Hi ladies,
I have some info which may of use. I hope it helps & does not offend anyone.
My sister called me today to explain I may be entitled to child benefit for the first 8 weeks of their lives, even thou my girls died a few hours after being born. A claim can be back dated for up to 3 months.
No amount of money makes the loss any better but the money will be useful to buy something to remember them with. This is not something anyone had mentioned to me. The information is available on Direct Gov website. Hope this helps x

Hi. The information is correct, and you are also entitled to claim the ??250 child trust fund payment. You don't get this automatically, I had to call them but they were really helpful and understanding. As you say Wooly, the money can be used for something to remember your little one's.
George35, x

Oh no that is terrible what on earth happened to you Wooly I hope u don't mind me asking
Hugs to u N xx

this is true but only if your baby lived outside the womb mine died during labour so i dont get it but if they live for even a little while you do gert it x

We won't get it either but what a wonderful idea to get something to remember them by. Because we buried our baby girl we will be 'decorating' her grave like the other childrens but I think for me I want to get a heart necklace with her name and d.o.b on and keep it close to my heart!
I hope you find something beautiful to remember your baby girls by and I am so so sorry x

Hi waiting4baby, Sorry to hear of your loss. I ordered a heart necklace last week! I am having my little girls hand & footprints on it with her name, and date of birth (and death sadly) on the back. I ordered it from The Keepsake Company if you are looking! George35, x

Hi Everyone!
George, I didn't know about the child trust fund as well ! I will have to look in to that too. No one really tells you about this.

Flossom, I gave birth to quads at 21 weeks. A sad experience but the best 21 weeks of my life!!

Take care xxxx

Hi George,

I ordered one and done it on Charlie but not sure if it will work and am scared it won't. Did you actually use her foot/hand or a print of it... i just wonder cos we did clay prints when he was here with us and they did painted hand n foot prints too.

I heard this about CB & CTC too and the trust fund. I haven't told them yet as we need the death certificate first.

Thanks
Donna.

Hi.

Wooly - give the CTF a call, 0845 302 1470 and explain your circumstances. They took all the details of our daughter over the phone and sent a form that we had to give bank details for payment to be made. It was all done very professionally, sensitively and quickly! As we are lucky enough to have 1 child we decided that we would pay this money into his bank account, a gift from his baby sister.

Donna - I used a copy of the hand & foot prints taken by the hospital. I scanned them into my PC and emailed them. I am hoping that it will come out well, I feel quite confident as I spoke to the people I ordered it from and they use the PC to pull out as much detail as possible to copy onto the jewellery. I'm not expecting it to arrive for 2-3 weeks but I'll let you know when I get it!

George35, x

Hi again. Thought this taken from the Child Trust Fund website might be useful:

If you do not have a Child Trust Fund voucher and have not claimed Child Benefit

If your child dies before you make a claim for Child Benefit, you should still go ahead and make your claim. If the Child Benefit Office decides you qualify for Child Benefit you may also receive a Child Trust Fund payment providing you meet the ???????qualifying rules???????.

There is a time limit for claiming and HMRC can backdate Child Benefit payments for 3 months only. This means that where a child has died a claim for Child Benefit must be made within 3 months of the date of death in order to receive the full 8 weeks payment. If you claim later than this but within 3 months of the beginning of the final week of the 8 week period you will receive payment for less than 8 weeks. If a claim is not made within this period then Child Benefit cannot be awarded. If you wish to speak someone please call the Child Benefit helpline on Tel: 0845 302 1444 or if you are in Northern Ireland 0845 603 2000.

Child Benefit cannot be claimed where a child is stillborn. This is because Child Benefit is payable only if the child has been alive at birth.

If Child Benefit is awarded for a child that has died the Child Benefit Office will automatically tell the Child Trust Fund Office. The Child Trust Fund Office will then write to you about making a direct Child Trust Fund payment. This can take up to 8 weeks. Or if you prefer you can contact the Child Trust Fund Helpline on 0845 302 1470 once you have received your Child Benefit Award Notice if you want to speak to someone directly.


I had claimed the child benefit but nothing happened automatically about the CTF (probably because I didnt give them 8 weeks to write to me!) so I called them.

Hope this helps!

[Modified by: George35 on October 08, 2009 03:14 PM]