Mum's birth certificate fight after baby born early so dying dad could meet her

16 February 2023 , 23:06

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Jamie Hunter (right), from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, who died on 13 May 2020, pictured with his partner Beccy Hunter (Image: Beccy Hunter/BPM Media)

A mother endured a two year fight to get her partner's name on their baby's birth certificate after the tot who was born to meet her dying dad.

Jamie Hunter and partner Beccy Flint found out they were expecting their first child together in 2019 with a due date of the end of May 2020.

But in October 2019 teacher Jamie started to suffer a crippling pain in his side before being diagnosed with kidney cancer the following March.

Beccy went on to delivered the baby early and Jamie, a teacher and football coach, was able to say hello to his daughter Harper-May, but sadly died two days later.

The grief-stricken mother-of-six then had to endure a two-year battle to get Jamie's name registered on their daughter's birth certificate, costing a staggering £3,500.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Jamie Hunter (right) pictured with his daughter Harper-May (Beccy Hunter/BPM Media)

Beccy described her heartache at getting his name added to the certificate in a legal battle because the couple weren't married.

Despite changing her surname from Flint to Hunter just before Jamie died, Beccy had to go to solicitors and arrange for DNA samples to be collected from her deceased partner and her newborn baby.

Jamie's body was then moved from a funeral directors to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, which meant she was unable to visit him for almost a month.

Beccy Hunter with her daughter Harper-May (Beccy Hunter/BPM Media)

After meeting with social services, Beccy then had to go to court to voice why she wanted to add Jamie's name on. certificate.

She said: "It's been hell, it makes me so mad that we had to go through this. If we had been married, they would have just taken it as gospel that he was the dad.

"It's just because the law is so outdated. Today, lots of people aren't married when they have kids."

Beccy also had to endure a social services interview in which she was made to explain why Jamie wanted to be a father and prove she was a fit parent.

Beccy and Jamie Hunter’s daughter Harper-May at Jamie's grave (Beccy Hunter/BPM Media)

Jamie holding newborn Harper (Beccy Hunter/BPM Media)

she added: "When an unmarried couple register a birth, they go to the register office together and that way the dad gives his consent to be named on the birth certificate. The difficulty here was that Jamie was not here to prove his consent."

Two tears after Harper-May was born, Beccy finally had a birth certificate delivered in July 2022 with Jamie's name on.

Abigail O'Leary