Sadly, 1 in 20 children/young people in Victoria, before the age of 18, experience the death of a parent/carer. That's more than one child in every classroom. You may know someone who has been through this incredibly hard experience, or you may have yourself.

Currently, Wombat's Wish is the only specialist service that offers support to these children throughout Victoria. This is an extremely difficult time for them and their family, and can potentially result in long-term emotional health problems.

Wombat's Wish was founded in 2005 by a local psychologist, Jill Crookes, a Mum with young children, who themselves experienced the grief of losing a husband and father.

Since then, Wombat's Wish has expanded our outreach across the state, providing vital therapeutic support to children and young people during their bereavement, ensuring that they don't go through this experience alone. Through our services, grieving children can access a team of dedicated volunteers and professionals, including psychologists, social workers, youth workers, grief counsellors, and mental health workers. They can make friends with other children who know exactly what they're going through. And they can learn to find a way through their grief.

The service is a therapeutic one, provided free of charge to families. We offer weekend grief programs, one-on-one counselling, family days, and support to other services providing grief services to children.

At Wombat's Wish, we believe all bereaved children, young people and their parents/carers have the right to information, guidance and support to enable them to manage the impact of death on their lives.

We are a grassroots local charity. All donations go towards Wombat's Wish programs that help parentally bereaved children across Victoria, when they need it most.