How Do I Get Help?
Everyone needs a helping hand now and again. Having a baby, or raising a family, is a very challenging time for any parent. Add in to that scenario other difficult circumstances and you can really feel like things are unmanageable. Your children are your priority and you want to take the best care of them you can. There is no shame in asking for help. At Ten Little Toes, we have all been there and we know that feeling. Most of the people who donate to us say the same thing.
A baby bank bundle can help you:
- Prepare for the arrival of a newborn
- Relieve financial and emotional stress by providing clothing and essentials for your children during difficult or unforeseen circumstances.
Difficult circumstances could include
- Loss of income
- Relationship breakdown
- Seeking refuge from domestic violence
- Being displaced or seeking asylum
- Unemployment
- Bereavement
- Physical or mental health difficulties
- Housing issues.
- Cost of Living Crisis
This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course, and we will not ask you to go into a lot of detail about your situation.
How it Works
We are a registered charity and as such we have to make sure our service is reaching those most in need. The best way to do this is to ask people to get a referral from a professional.
Having a referral helps us to establish who really needs our service and why. Being referred assures us that someone else already knows you and your situation and can confirm to us that you would benefit from our support.
If you have a health visitor, family support worker or social worker, they should be your first port of call.
If you don’t have a health visitor or social worker, you can try the following to request a referral. It’s easy for them - see our ‘how can I refer someone’ page.
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Contact an individual or organisation who has/have helped you recently (eg a foodbank, your child’s school, nursery or preschool, your church, etc) and ask them to refer you on to us.
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Contact your GP and ask them whether they can put you in touch with a health visitor, community nurse, or family support worker who could refer you. Your GP can also refer you directly.
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If you are pregnant, or have recently had a baby, a midwife can refer you.
- Email your local children & family centre for advice about contacting someone who can refer you
Once a referral is made, we will contact your referrer and ask them to provide a list of the things you need. We will then build a bundle for you. Then you, or someone on your behalf, will be able to collect the items from our hub in Cowfold, usually within two weeks. If the situation is urgent, we can respond more quickly. Let us know if you need us to do this.
Help with Food:
We do not provide food parcels. We may include baby food or your usual formula with a bundle, if requested and if in stock. We would love to be able to help with more comprehensive food donations, but we simply don’t have the resources. There are several local charities that might be able to help if you are in need of support with food essentials.
https://horshamdistrict.foodbank.org.uk/ https://www.horsham-matters.com/horsham-foodbank https://www.crawleyfoodbankpartnership.co.uk/ https://eastgrinstead.foodbank.org.uk/?utm_source=givefood_org_uk&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=needs https://www.givefood.org.uk/needs/in/constituencies/ https://freeshopcrawley.com
Other community support organisations that may be able to help your family:
https://www.stjohnscrawley.com/321/Love-Your-Neighbour https://www.theeasterteam.org/ https://www.theoasis.org.uk/ https://www.carerssupport.org.uk/ https://www.moonstones.org.uk
West Sussex County Council’s page for family support services: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/education-children-and-families/support-for-families/information-for-families-and-expectant-parents/
Important
If you feel you need help looking after your children, please seek advice from a health visitor, GP, school or other support service, or call 999 in an emergency.