BBK Early Support Service: Immediate support for children and families after brain injury

When a child sustains a brain injury it can be an incredibly stressful and overwhelming time for a family. At Bolt Burdon Kemp (BBK), we recognise our clients and their families face immense challenges in the period immediately following a brain injury which is why we’ve introduced a new service to provide families with immediate practical support.

What is the BBK Early Support Service?

Our Early Support Service helps families tackle pressing practical issues from the outset.

We understand many parents have an urgent need for funds and it isn’t always feasible to wait for money from a compensation claim.

Through our Early Support Service, we aim to provide practical assistance, allowing parents to concentrate on their child’s needs, recovery and rehabilitation while we begin investigating the potential claim for compensation.

The key features of our Early Support Service include:

• Managing creditors and service suppliers

If a parent can no longer meet their financial commitments due to their child’s injury (such as being unable to work), we help by preparing letters to explain the situation to creditors and service suppliers.

These might include utilities companies, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, landlords, mobile phone companies and broadband providers. This can help ease immediate financial burdens, create a pathway for resolution, and gives our client’s parents much-needed breathing space to adapt to the new challenges facing their family life.

• Employment support

Parents are often unable to return to work initially due to their child’s injuries and care needs. Some may never be able to return to their previous roles and some may never work again. For those who were self-employed, concerns about business continuity and financial stability can be particularly daunting.

We can help by writing to employers, explaining the situation, and ensuring they receive what they are entitled to. Additionally, if parents are returning to work, we can help communicate the new challenges they are facing to their employer.

For self-employed clients – who won’t receive statutory sick pay – we can provide support in applying for employment-related benefits.

• Emergency funds for essential expenses

In the aftermath of a serious brain injury, families can have unexpected but essential additional expenses. Some charities offer emergency funds for expenses such as travel costs or accommodation near the hospital. This support is especially valuable when an injury occurs far from home.

We help our clients to apply for these funds, ensuring they have access to necessary resources during a critical time.

On discharge from hospital, there may be an urgent need for equipment or home modifications. Not everyone has the funds to cover these expenses. Some charitable trusts provide grants specifically for home alterations and essential equipment. We can guide our clients through the application process to secure this vital assistance.

• Connecting to reputable organisations

A significant brain injury affects many aspects of a child and their family’s life and often leads to the need for specialist support across a range of issues.

Sometimes clients and their families need urgent support in relation to their housing or immigration status. We can help with this.

Families may need advice on creating a will. They may have to apply for probate if a family member passed away in the incident. Sometimes clients need to challenge the decisions made by public bodies, such as decisions around life-sustaining treatment.

Invariably, our clients and their families need practical and emotional support at this difficult time in their lives. At BBK, we recognise the importance of addressing these varied and complex issues.

Through our well-connected network we can confidently direct our clients to reliable and highly regarded organisations for the specialist support they need. Whether that be expert legal advisers or charities, such as Contact, Child Brain Injury Trust, Peeps HIE, Headway, The Silverlining Charity and Different Strokes, with whom we work closely.

We ensure a smooth transition to these services so our clients have the legal assistance, emotional support or practical resources they need, when they need them.

• Help with state welfare and disability benefits

Trying to navigate through the challenging state benefits system can be an added source of stress for families of our brain-injured clients, particularly if they have not previously claimed benefits.

We can help with benefits applications and social services assessments, navigating the process for our clients and their families and ensuring they receive the benefits and support they are entitled to.

• Ad hoc support with other issues

After a brain injury, loved ones are often juggling huge emotional and practical difficulties under tremendous stress and pressure.

The world outside doesn’t pause to accommodate our clients’ and their families’ struggles, but whatever the problem in the immediate aftermath of a brain injury, we will help if we can.

When a child suffers a brain injury the lives of our clients and their families are turned upside down and they find themselves in crisis mode without warning. Whether it’s a matter of life or death, everything else takes a back seat as they focus on survival.

Through our BBK Early Support Service, we aim to lift the crushing weight of the challenges confronting our injured clients and their families in the immediate aftermath of a brain injury so they can focus on processing the difficult events and beginning their child’s rehabilitation journey, while we work towards obtaining the compensation they deserve.

For more information on BBK’s Early Support Service, click here.