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A project supporting families of premature babies is sharing in funding worth almost £3.4 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Supporting Families programme.

TinyLife received £619,250 to work with parenting charity Lifestart to deliver the five-year Tinystart project to help families cope with the often traumatic arrival of a premature baby. The project will deliver a range of support including advice, parents groups, child development activities, home visits and baby massage for families in the Belfast, Western and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust areas.

TinyLife is one of five projects awarded grants totalling £3,387,546 from the programme. Other projects will work with black and ethnic minority families, families with children who have mental health difficulties, kinship carers and rural families facing isolation (full list of grants awarded is in a separate attachment).

Alison McNulty, chief executive of TinyLife, said: “In Northern Ireland, around 1,900 babies are born prematurely every year – that is seven babies every day. They can be in the neo natal unit for anything from a few days to weeks or even months. It can be a big shock and families need extra support.”

She said the project will bring together TinyLife and Lifestart’s services to give premature babies, some of whom face issues such as disabilities, the best possible start in life. Support is available for children up to three.

She added: “This grant from the Big Lottery Fund will make a real difference and allow us to help more families at a time when the numbers of premature babies is increasing.”

Ciara and John Kennedy from east Belfast received support from TinyLife when their now 19-month-old triplets Jack, Harry and Oliver were born prematurely at just 30 weeks in June 2013.   

Ciara, 38, said: “TinyLife were there from the start supporting us. They had given me a breast pump and I was able to start expressing milk. John and I would go up to the Ulster Hospital where they were in the neo natal unit every day to spend time with the boys, have skin-to-skin contact and feed them.

“They just seemed so fragile and were attached to so many wires and monitors. But as a mum, it didn’t matter – they just seemed like very small but perfectly formed babies.”

When the triplets were strong enough to come home – Jack at five weeks with the other two boys at seven weeks – TinyLife had already arranged for two volunteers to visit the family twice a week, which Ciara said made such a difference.

“They gave us practical help like doing feeds and just being a friend as well,” she said.

Although Harry and Oliver had a minor heart murmur when they were first born – common in premature babies – all the boys are now completely healthy and happy. 

Ciara said: “They are just fantastic and an absolute joy. We’re just so lucky that they are thriving, and we’re so grateful for TinyLife’s support.”

Barnardo’s also received £699,618 for a project that will help isolated black and minority ethnic families in south Belfast to support their children’s learning and feel more part of the community. They will work in partnership with Ulster University, South Belfast Sure Start, Fane Street Primary School and Holy Rosary Primary School to develop families’ skills including language, literacy and communication.

Joanne McDowell, Big Lottery Fund NI Director, said: “We are delighted to be funding these projects through our Supporting Families programme. They will strengthen families’ ability to cope with the challenges they face. We hope they will have a really positive impact on the lives of people who need our help the most.”

A full list of projects receiving a Supporting Families grant is available here.

This programme is now closed for applications.

For media enquiries, please contact Lucy Gollogly at the Big Lottery Fund Press Office on02890 551 432

Out of hours media contact:           07580811135
Website:                                             http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/northernireland  
Twitter:                                              @BIGNIonline #BigLottery
Facebook:                                          www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFundNI

Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery.
• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 it has awarded close to £6bn.
• In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was awarded to projects. Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £32 billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded.