On-demand cleaning and DIY services provider, Handy (www.handy.com), has launched a charitable relationship with The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (www.baaf.org.uk) – the UK’s leading charity for children separated from their birth families. 

Handy is inviting Londoners who are expecting a new child in July or August to order one of its DIY experts to come and assemble the child-to-be’s crib, with the fees for such work being donated to BAAF.

More specifically, the proceeds will go to BAAF’s Adoption Activity Days programme (www.baaf.org.uk/ourwork/activitydays) and the rate for a Handy DIY professional is £20 per hour. Adoption Activity Days are events where adopters can meet a range of children waiting to be adopted in a prepared, supported, safe and fun environment. The revenues raised from soon-to-be parents with newly assembled cribs will help to fund toys, entertainment (such as magicians), and books for the children to commemorate forthcoming Adoption Activity Days. Sally Beaumont, BAAF’s Adoption Activity Days Manager, is available for interview and comment upon request.

Though children tend to stop sleeping in cribs when they reach an age between two and three, Handy and BAAF are using this project to highlight the fact that many children of all ages are in need of adoption. According to statistics published last year by OFSTED, 66% of children granted an adoption order in England were over the age of two years old. The children present at BAAF’s Adoption Activity Days cover all different ages and so it is hoped that the money raised for these events will increase the number of adoptions of both babies and older children.

Pete Dowds, UK Country Manager for Handy comments: “As a company that helps tend to houses all around the country, we understand the vital role a home plays in a person’s life. Children seeking adoption need this more than anything: as a place of security, comfort and love. BAAF is helping kids receive exactly this, though there is still plenty more work to be done. In the same way that our DIY professionals can build cribs, we hope the money generated from this scheme will help to build loving families.  We are hoping that parents expecting children in the near future will consider those children not born into such a secure home and will help us with this important partnership.”

Chief Executive of BAAF, Caroline Selkirk, comments: “We are thrilled that Handy will be helping us to build families by donating the proceeds of their crib assembly service to our Adoption Activity Days programme. There are over 6,000 children in the UK in need of an adoptive family, and many of these children wait longer if they are older, part of a sibling group, from an ethnic minority background or have a disability. Adoption Activity Days are the number one method of family finding for harder to place children. These events give adopters the chance to make a real connection with a child, and can often change their perspective on the kinds of children they might like to adopt. The donations made by Handy will go towards toys and entertainment, which will enable adopters and children to bond by playing together.”