"The last thing we want to do is have to turn families away"

Tuesday 17 March 2020

A service that supports local families with sick children, who need treatment away from the island, is in urgent need of more funding to be able to continue its work without having to turn anyone away.

Family First offers practical help to families by helping them find information about travel and accommodation in the UK, as well as sourcing funding from other charities to cover earnings loss or counselling.

Any family can access the service, which is not means-tested. 

The service was founded by the Grace Crocker Family Support Foundation and the Jersey Community Partnership in January 2018, after a group of 18 charities that also support sick children in Jersey came together.

“They recognised people were coming to them for financial support, to find out about services in the UK or for emotional support,” Cheryl Dolbel, Family First’s Liaison Manager, explained to Express.

“The Grace Crocker Family Support Foundation agreed to fund my work and the Jersey Community Partnership provided the infrastructure.”

Ms Dolbel said that families that have to go off-island for emergencies feel completely alone when they get to the UK and have no point of contact for any of their enquiries.

“As well as having the worry of having a very sick kid, they shouldn’t have to worry about accommodation, which is not always provided in the hospital,” she said. “Each hospital has their own site, trying to find the information is just not something people are able to do."

Family First’s first action was to create leaflets for each different hospital local children go to, detailing the services available in the hospital, as well as nearby hotels and any other useful information.  

They also sourced UK sim cards to give to families to avoid them ending up with hundreds of pounds worth of phone bills.

Pictured: Cheryl Dolbel is Family First's Family Liaison Manager. 

In cases where children have to spend several months off-island, Ms Dolbel helps families source financial support.

“We speak to the family to find out about the circumstances then we apply to the charities for them,” she explained. “We only put them in touch with the charity after we have had confirmation they will provide funding.”

Ms Dolbel also signposts parents and families to other services that offer emotional support, such as Jersey Hospice or the Listening Lounge.

“We are just making sure that the family is aware of everything that is available to them,” she said. “Some parents have said it makes a world of difference. The difference is night and day for them to know they have someone that can pick up the phone.

“Parents of premature babies, they usually spend three or four months in the UK, they can end up feeling quite low. It’s important they have that financial and emotional support.”

Pictured: "The difference is night and day for them to know they have someone that can pick up the phone," Ms Dolbel said.

Since launching in May 2018, Family First has helped 78 families and helped source a total of £130,500 to cover loss of earnings, travel as well as counselling for local families. 

But Ms Dolbel, who is the only employee working for the service, says Family First has to expand. With the funding provided by the Grace Crocker Foundation soon to come to an end, Ms Dolbel also warned that, if another source of funding is not found, the service is at risk of shutting down.

“We currently support 30 families, a social worker would have an average of 20 families on their case load,” she explained. “It’s only me at the moment. Half of our families are families we will support as long as they have a child.” 

“If we have too many families, the time spent on families will be cut down and they won’t have the level of support that they have had. The last thing we want to do is have to turn families away."