Referrals

Very Special Kids welcomes referrals of children and young people who meet our eligibility criteria.

Referrals, which are mandatory, can come from many sources such as a family, a GP, a nurse, an allied health professional, or hospital staff. We do require the consent of the child’s parent or carer with parental responsibility.

Referrals are assessed at fortnightly multi-disciplinary meetings.

There are three types of referrals:

General referrals

Very Special Kids requires permission of the referred family to contact nominated medical consultants who will advise on eligibility. Referrers will be notified of the outcome of the eligibility assessment process once it is complete.

If the child or adolescent meets the criteria and is accepted into Very Special Kids, a member of our family support team and the intake and assessment coordinator will contact the family to arrange an initial assessment to discuss our services.

Make a referral

End-of-life care referrals

Referrals for end-of-life care can be directed to the intake and assessment coordinator during business hours on 03 9804 6221 or the hospice team directly on 03 9804 6218.

Referrals regarding children who have already died

Very Special Kids services are available to parents and siblings for up to 12 months after the death of a child, as long as that child would have met our eligibility criteria.

Make a referral