Care Kits for Kids
Qld Inc.
Helping children
in care or crisis,
one Care Kit at a time.
Our Care Kits provide practical needs,
(new clothes, toiletries, education supplies, books, toys, quilts/wraps)
giving comfort and dignity,
showing children
in care or crisis
that they matter and
their community cares.
Our Care Kits
We provide Care Kits
containing 2 days’ of
new clothing, toiletries, education supplies, toy, book and quilt
for Queensland children in care or crisis.
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Who do we help?
Around 12,000 Queensland children
aged 0 to 17
are now in care or crisis.
(Qld Dept CYJMA, Dec 2021)
These children often leave
unsafe situations with nothing but
the clothes they are wearing.
We provide free age specific Care Kits
containing 2 days’ supply of:
new clothing,
toiletries,
education supplies,
book,
toy &
quilt / wrap.
Donations for these children
can be left at any of our
DONATION POINTS
Our Care Kits can be requested
at no cost,
at point of need,
all year round
by any Queensland organisation who
directly assists children in crisis:
Qld Police Child Protection units,
Qld Child Safety services,
Domestic Violence services
Foster and Kinship Care services,
Indigenous assistance services
& Programmes
assisting children in crisis eg floods, fire, refugees, schools…
Impact Stories
💕A 16-year-old boy put our little handmade stuffed fabric heart into his pocket to remind himself people cared, encouraging him to care what he made of his life.
💕A traumatised young girl refused to undergo a shower and nits removal… until she realised our Care Kit had lovely new clothes AND fancy hair bows and hairclips just waiting for her to put them all (!) into lovely clean hair.
💕One 12 year old boy became very excited upon seeing the new pyjamas in his Care Kit. They happened to be exactly the same as the ones he had to leave behind!
💕Two amazing emergency and short-term foster carers once had a child arrive with no underpants, needing an emergency night trip to the shops. The next time, children arrived with their new Care Kits and had everything needed to be comfortable for the next 2 days. These carers now help support Care Kits for Kids Qld through Containers for Change / donations so more children in crisis can benefit.
💕One young child didn’t know how to use a toothbrush. He had never owned one before, let alone a brand new one just for himself!
💕One year 9 student leader chose to support Care Kits for Kids Qld Inc through a donation drive for Year 7s at his high school for a Duke of Edinburgh award. The entire school community helped him achieve his goal.
💕One young girl mobilised her whole Grade 3 class to donate education items for Care Kits for Kits Qld.
💕One teenage girl used all her birthday money to put together a complete Care Kit for a teen girl doing it tough.
💕One young man from our disability group of volunteers proudly told everyone ‘I come to work, now!’
💕 A guest speaker at our thank you function for donors began with "I was one of those kids. I know what a huge difference it makes for a child to be given a Care Kit"
💕A mother who had escaped domestic violence with her children (and virtually nothing else), organised a huge donation for us at her large workplace as she knew how much of a practical difference, hope and comfort a comprehensive Care Kit can provide.
What we do
💕 We #giveback
We provide an opportunity
for people,
organisations and businesses
to give back to their community so
no child has to go without
basic necessities, comfort or hope.
DONATION POINTS are at MPs’ and Councillors’ offices around greater Brisbane.
💕 We are #community
Since we began in Feb 2018,
we have developed
ever-growing networks with volunteers and supporters
from all sectors of our community:
school children to seniors;
craft and community groups and businesses, large and small.
Our giving, caring community is simply amazing!
💕 We #waronwaste
Join our volunteers who create clothing, accessories, pencil cases, toys etc for Care Kits from donated fabric & yarn. Virtually nothing goes to landfill;
textiles we can’t use go to others who can use it.
Join our sewing / craft groups. Or recycle your containers
for us C
💕 We #educate
We can be booked for presentations
to community organisations, schools and businesses around greater Brisbane, where we demonstrate
Care Kit contents and the
huge need for our Queensland community to help children
in crisis or entering foster care.
💕 We #fillthegap
We supply free age-specific Care Kits at point of need
throughout Queensland to
💖 Qld Police Child Protection units,
💖 Qld Child Safety agencies,
💖 Foster and Kinship Care agencies,
💖 Domestic Violence agencies
💖 School and other programmes
💕 We are #childsafe
All Care Kit contents are approved and reviewed
as safe and relevant
by Child Safety officers:
“Your Care Kits are amazing.
They have everything a child needs and
nothing that they shouldn’t have.” (Child Safety Officer Qld, 2020)
Hundreds of items are needed for
hundreds of Care Kits every month.
You can help by donating any new items listed below through
a Donation Point near you, or through a financial donation.
See our Facebook Page pinned post for urgent needs and updates.
Queensland's at risk children
The plight of children in crisis or care is heartrending:
Over 12,000 Queensland children aged 0 to 17 are living away from home.
The number of children in out-of-home care increased by another 1036 children
in just one year to 30 June 2020.
58% of children in out-of-home care were Indigenous,
mostly placed with kin, other Indigenous carers or Indigenous residential services (2021)
ICE drug use impacting the safety of children is significant.
More than 40% of children who came into the care of the department
during the 12 months to June 2021 had a parent with current or previous methamphetamine use.
4,332 children were in need of protection from domestic violence as the child
did not have a parent able and willing to protect them from harm.
Another 2,441 children had one parent trying to protect them from family & domestic violence (FDV)
60% of sexual assault victims (3,435 victims) were under 18 years of age at the date of incident.
31% were FDV assaults. (ABS, 2021)
75% of households had multiple risk factors impacting safety of their children:
drug/alcohol abuse (63%), mental illness (54%), recent domestic and family violence (49%).
We also provide Care Kits for children impacted by flood, fire, disaster, refugee or other events that leave them in need.
Sources:
CYJMA 2020, 2021
ABS 2021
Handmade hearts
are placed in each Care Kit,
as unique as each child who receives them.
They are a pocket sized hug
from our community –
a message that each child matters,
and their community cares.