Referral Information

If you support families who are vulnerable or experiencing hardship in Surrey or Croydon you can make a referral to us on their behalf

We supply a mixture of new/good condition pre-loved baby/children’s items – clothing, toys, equipment, toiletries and school uniform – from birth up to age 18. We operate on a referrals only basis, which means families can’t self-refer. We accept referrals from a wide range of organisations – food banks, schools, citizen advice, housing associations, family centres, GP’s and health services, children’s services, domestic abuse support services, the police and any other professional supporting families. 

Our service is free of charge and there is no assessment criteria.  Requested items will need to be collected from our offices in Reigate or Redhill by the referral partner or a delivery slot booked to one of our delivery hubs across Surrey and Croydon.

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What we can provide

A beautifully packaged newborn baby pack typically contains a clothes pack (up to 3 months), bedding, sleeping bags, baby bath and hooded towels, changing mat, nappy bag, nappies and wipes, toiletries (for baby and Mum) and toys. All presented in a Moses basket with new mattress and stand. Included is a new baby card handwritten by one of our volunteers.
Each clothes bundle is lovingly put together by one of our volunteers and includes a variety of clothes item to last a baby or child for one week, including socks and pants. We take into account the season and any preferences which have been expressed, such as gender-neutral items. Often our packs contain new, as well as good quality, pre-loved items.
We provide all the essentials needed to be school ready. We stock non-logo uniform items including shirts, trousers, skirts, pinafore dresses and PE kit, as well as good quality school shoes, trainers and wellies. We also provide school bags with age-appropriate stationery and a water bottle.
We can provide a wide range of essential baby and children’s equipment that includes prams, buggies, highchairs, moses baskets, cots and mattresses, sterilisers, stair gates and baby carriers. All equipment is thoroughly safety-checked and cleaned before being passed on, ensuring it is ready for immediate use.
Our toiletry packs are filled with essential items for babies, children and parents. These packs can include nappies, baby wipes, shampoo, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant. We also include baby-specific items such as nappy cream and baby lotion, as well as vital post-pregnancy products like maternity pads, breast pads and period products.
We can provide gifts for special occasions such as Christmas, Eid, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, helping to ensure that every child and parent feels remembered and celebrated. All items are brand new and thoughtfully packed to make each occasion feel special.

How to make a referral to us

1 Complete a referral form for each family.

You should use the online form here to make any referral request. We have two forms available – the general referral form and the School Days referral form.  You will need to provide the following information:

  • Age/gender of each child (indicating if a different clothes size is required).
  • Any known interests for each child so we can customise the bundle accordingly.
  • The borough/postcode of the family.
  • The reason for the referral.
  • If the request is urgent/when the items are needed by.

2 Book your collection or delivery

We will send you a conformation email, please book your collection or delivery via the link in this email

Collecting items from our general referral for: Collection will be from our Reigate warehouse  (Monday to Thursday, 9:30am-1:30pm). Our storage space is limited so we appreciate arranging prompt collections. Please allow plenty of time to be shown how to assemble and operate the larger items, such as cots and prams.

Collecting school items: Collection will be from Raven House, Linkfield Lane, Redhill, RH1 1SS.

Collecting both general items and school items: complete both forms and book your collection or delivery for both via the link sent to you in your confirmation emails. Unless otherwise arranged, collection for general referrals will be from Reigate and School Days will be from Raven House, Redhill.

Delivery: We have delivery hub options around Surrey and Croydon. When you receive the booking link, please have a look at the “Open to all” options on the list and select one you can travel to or check “internal only” to see if we deliver directly to your organisation.

Supporting families in every corner of Surrey and Croydon

Delivery Hubs Map

We have delivery hubs across Surrey and Croydon. Deliveries can be requested via the referral form when completing your request. Please note that we do not deliver direct to families, the referral partner will need to collect items from the hub.

Stripey Stork Van

Other support services for families

Sometimes the requests we receive go beyond the remit of our resources and capabilities, we have put together a useful list of other organisations who may be able to help support your families.

family support worker

If you are a professional supporting families outside of Surrey and Croydon, please take a look at the map above. There are over 300 baby banks across the UK and one of them may be able to help you.

FAQs

Any family with children aged 0-18 years, who are in financial hardship, can get help from us. That means, if you are struggling to pay for essentials, and going without things you and your children need. Our service is focused on Surrey and Croydon, so it will be easier to get help from us if you live in those areas.

No. Our service is available with a referral – meaning a professional person supporting your family will need to contact us on your behalf. That means you don’t have to give any personal information, or collect anything from us – the person who refers you should do that for you.

We know that you might not already have a person in mind who can refer you. Don’t worry – we take referrals from a really wide range of organisations.

Lots of schools and nurseries make referrals to us, and if yours hasn’t done this before, please encourage them to do so – any school or nursery can refer.

You could also ask another charity or supportive group – a foodbank you have visited, or  a church you’re part of, for example.

There are also advice services that are open to anyone, like Citizen’s Advice – you can phone them or if there is one near you, you can visit them. You can find out where your nearest one is using the link on our website on the ‘get help’ page.

You can also approach a charity like Homestart, who support families with children under 5 years. 

Although we know it can be hard to ask for help, many organisations and professionals will already know about us and will be used to making referrals. If they’re not, you can show them our website, which explains how easy it is to refer to us.

We don’t ask for any evidence. Talk to the person who is going to refer you about your situation. They can confirm to us that you need support.

We won’t ask for any names or addresses of your family. Just information that helps us give you the right items, like the age, or clothing and shoe size, of your children, and your postcode, so we can see where our help is needed.

We encourage families to donate items that are in really good condition, for re-use, to save waste and help others. So while many of our items provided are pre-loved, all are checked and cleaned to make sure that what comes to the family receiving it is a lovely gift that will be useful and of good quality. A lot of baby items get only lightly used and are still in excellent condition when they are passed on to us.

Within the bundles we provide, some items are new, and items like mattresses and bottles will always be new for hygiene reasons.

All equipment is checked for safety, and things like beds, buggies and highchairs have to meet a British Safety Standard to make sure they are safe to use.

There’s information on this page about what we can provide. The person who refers you should also be able to help explain what we can give you. There isn’t a limit on how much you can ask for – we suggest you make a list and talk it through with them. They can refer you again if you need more help.

There are a few things we can’t help with:

  • Maternity clothing / clothing for parents/carers
  • Food and baby formula
  • Furniture and furnishings like drawers, wardrobes, etc
  • Car Seats
  • Some items that are not considered safe, such as cot bumpers, bumbo seats and baby nests.
  • Medical or disability equipment – we often have adaptive items, but anything that would need to be specially fitted, recommended by a medical professional, or prescribed, would not usually be available through us. There are sometimes other sources of funding out there for items like this – see our resources section.

We know that children grow and circumstances change which is why you can ask to be referred to us multiple times. There is no limit.

Everything we provide is given out through a referral from a professional, and will be collected by them.

Our site isn’t open to drop-in visitors due to being a working warehouse environment where we store and check items.

We do welcome volunteers😊 and we love to hear from families we’ve helped, so if you would like to get in touch with any feedback for us, please do.