Family Assistance Funding Guidance
At the Little Miracles Trust we use funds from grants allocated regionally to assist whānau facing hardship. The amount each region has varies according to grants received and can change from month to month. The Trust Service Delivery Manager keeps the Family Support frontline team updated on what is available each month.
When funds are available, we use the following list to guide our decision making alongside information gathered from the unit team. We always plan to work in partnership with the unit and make fully informed decisions around gifting for financial hardship. It is our intention that the final decision made by The Little Miracles is communicated to all involved in a timely manner.
- Whānau impacted by severe financial hardship in more than one area e.g. food and travel
- Length of stay in the unit- longer lengths of stay higher priority.
- Involvement of other agencies of support and care already required by the whānau e.g. WINZ, National Travel Assistance, Oranga Tamariki
- Complexity of baby’s case
- Support available within the family’s whānau network
- Whānau home location.
(Note: this list is a guide and not an exhaustive list or listed in terms of weighting criteria).
If hardship funds are available from within their home location, we may be able to transfer funds inter-region e.g. whānau from Dunedin can access Dunedin hardship grants held by us during their time in a unit in Auckland.
We have a list below of other support we offer whānau.
- Peer support in unit time from our trained family support coordinators
- Ficare support groups
- Online resources
- Webinars and podcasts
- Care packs
- Donated woollen and preloved items
- Pump hire
- Bellyful or frozen meals
- Regular morning teas
- Gifts for celebration days
- 100-day bears and certificates
- We can provide letters for WINZ to support WINZ clients’ breast pump funding applications.
- When provided with a Purchase Order number from Oranga Tamariki we can invoice them direct for breast pumps
- Community based playgroups
What we cannot do:
We are not able to provide cash to whānau