Acorns Children's Hospice
 | |
| Formation | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Type | Registered charity |
| Purpose | To provide palliative care |
| Headquarters | Wythall, Birmingham, England |
| Coordinates | 52°22′43″N 1°53′08″W / 52.378694°N 1.885553°W |
Region served | |
| Website | acorns |
| [1][2] | |
Acorns Children's Hospice Trust is a registered charity, providing palliative care services and support to children and young people with life limiting and life threatening conditions. The charity is the only children's hospice for the West Midlands region. Acorns provides care and support from its three hospices, situated in Birmingham, Walsall and Worcester, and in family homes. The catchment area for the Hospices comprises the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire as well as parts of Staffordshire, Shropshire, and the West Midlands.
Acorns provides a network of specialist palliative nursing care for children and support for their families.[3]
The organisation cares for around 700-800 children and over 1,000 families a year.[4] Services include rehabilitative respite, pain and symptom management, emergency and end-of-life care and support following a child's death.[5] In addition to clinical care, Acorns also offers psychosocial support for families, including bereavement services and various family support groups. Over two-thirds of Acorns funding comes from donations and revenue generated through their charity shops.
History
[edit]In 2010, Acorns was a victim of a scam in which scammers pretending to represent the charity collected money from donators which then went to private firms rather than Acorns.[6]
In 2020, Acorns temporarily closed its hospice in Birmingham to make the site available to the NHS as a COVID-19 treatment centre.[7] Families, who were shielding their clinically vulnerable children at home, where still able to access the charity's other two hospices in Walsall and Worcester.
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Hospices
[edit]Acorns operates three hospices
- Birmingham; location: Selly Oak; opened 1988
- Black Country; location: Walsall; opened 1999
- Three Counties;[clarification needed] location: Worcester; opened 2005
Shops
[edit]The charity runs over 40 shops across the "Heart of England." Acorns has the largest regional charity retail chain[8] and in 2015–2016 they raised over £1.5 million.[9] Acorns has six furniture shops, known as 'superstores', in Chelmsley Wood, Blackheath, Harborne, Pershore, Erdington and Tewkesbury.[10]
Aston Villa
[edit]Aston Villa football club has supported Acorns since July 2008. When the club unveiled the kit for the 2008–09 season, it featured Acorns logo in the main kit sponsor position. The Club donated the advertising space to the charity.[11]
The partnership was extended for the 2009–10 season.[12] Since the 2010–11 season, Acorns has been Aston Villa's Official Charity Partner.[13] When Marc Albrighton scored the 20,000th goal in Premier League history, he chose Acorns as the charity to receive the £20,000 prize donation.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ "Acorns Children's Hospice Trust - Charity 700859". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ "Acorns Children's Hospice Trust - Charity 700859". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ Brown, Erica; Warr, Brian (15 June 2007). Supporting the Child and the Family in Paediatric Palliative Care. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84642-659-9.
- ^ "Facts and figures". Acorns Children’s Hospice. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
- ^ "Care services". Acorns Children’s Hospice. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
- ^ "Acorns Children's Hospice hit by collection scam". BBC News. 28 June 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ^ "Coronavirus: Acorns Children's Hospice offers centre for treatment". 27 March 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ^ "Acorns Retail Charity Shops, West Midlands & Birmingham - Acorns Children's Hospice". Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ "Impact Report". Acorns. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
- ^ "Acorns Children's Hospice furniture shops". Acorns Children’s Hospice. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
- ^ Gardner, Alan (3 June 2008). "Aston Villa to promote charity in place of shirt sponsor". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ^ Wilson, Steve (6 March 2009). "Aston Villa prepare bid for Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
Villa have also announced that their agreement to carry the logo of Acorn's Children's Hospice on their shirts will be extended for another season.
- ^ "Villa's new partner". www.avfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
- ^ Anton Stanley (21 December 2011). "Albrighton: To get 20,000th Premier League goal is special". TalkSport. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.