The Alannah & Madeline Foundation provides Buddy Bags (backpacks) for children placed in emergency care. The bags are full of basic, essential items and are designed to be given to children on arrival in emergency care.
Each bag includes personal items such as toothbrush, hairbrush, pyjamas, socks, underwear, pillowcase, face washer, a book, photo frames and a teddy bear. All bags are age and gender specific and are labelled accordingly. The initial delivery includes 30-40 bags (3-4 for each age group and gender).
There is no cost to participate in the Buddy Bags Program. To participate, each child protection office needs to:
- complete the interagency agreement form, identifying who the key contact person is for receipt of stock and recording stock
- keep track of how many bags are given out during the month and email a stock usage sheet when stocks gets down to 10-15 bags
- encourage/complete and return the Buddy Bag Postcard, which is included in each bag.
Buddy bags contact details form (docx, 411.97 KB) - to register for the program and provide contact details for delivery
Buddy bags agreement form (doc, 96 KB)
Buddy bags order form (docx, 428.78 KB)
Further information can be found on the Alannah & Madeline Foundation website.