Family grants

Care for Kids North Devon provides instant financial assistance to families that have a child diagnosed with a life-threatening illness e.g. a cancer, a heart condition, cystic fibrosis or a head injury. Because of North Devon’s rural location, all seriously ill children are now treated in specialist Children’s Hospitals in Bristol or beyond. For families in North Devon this means the loss of earnings, subsistence costs and travel costs for parents traveling and staying in Bristol, Oxford, Birmingham or London.

Upon diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, Care for Kids can provide a family with instant financial assistance for those most in need. This is to assist families in the acute stage of a child’s treatment and management of a medical condition, with financial concerns arising through loss of earnings, finding travel expenses, child-care costs and subsistence costs. Each family eligible for a grant is asked to complete a simple Grant Application Form which has a few tick boxes to assess a family’s means. The Grant Application Forms are provided by staff at the Caroline Thorpe children’s ward, who will help to complete the form. It must be signed by a consultant and approved by the charity’s trustees before any grant is awarded. Sometimes further payments are made in exceptional circumstances.

If you are not under the care of the Caroline Thorpe Children’s Ward and you need a grant for your child who has a life threatening illness/condition please contact the ward for advice.

Every year we support between 10 and 15 families who have a child diagnosed with a life threatening illness or condition.