Parent Port

If you are in Auckland, Parent Port is a wonderful FREE service for parents, offering "immediate, accessible home help for caregivers who cannot care for their children because of illness or distress." If you have pre-school aged children or are expecting a baby, live in the Parent Port boundaries and need support you may qualify for assistance. Parent Port will help with light housework, transport (for medical or counselling appointments), childcare - while the mother rests or while attending counselling or appointments, preparation of a meal and/or laundry. Click here to find about more on Parent Port's website.

WINZ - Home Help Scheme

If you have an elder child under the age of 5 years and infant twins you are eligible for 240 hours of home help in the first 12 months.

If you have triplets or more you are entitled to 1,560 hours over a 24 month period.

You need to arrange your own home helper. Some people use family members, others employ nannies or use companies such as Porse or Home Grown Kids etc. It is really up to you. However the pay rate from WINZ may impact on who you use. The maximum hourly rate is $12.63 per hour plus holiday pay (which equals $13.64 per hour) as at 1 April 2008.

The home-helper is responsible for paying their own taxes and ACC levies to the Inland Revenue Department. WINZ does NOT deduct payee when paying the home helper so the rate to the home helper is actually $13.64 BEFORE tax.

You can not apply for this entitlement until after the birth of your babies but it is helpful to get the forms in advance so you have one less thing to worry about. Also after the babies have been born and you ring to book an appointment be sure to request someone who is trained in the home help scheme (the author was made to wait 30mins while her case worker read the manual on how to process the application - not good when you have hungry babies waiting for you at home!!) also be sure that every document you take to your appointment is an original. (You will need birth certificates for all your children or hospital discharge papers for the babies when making your application).

Note: You are only eligible if you have twins after another child who is under 5. If you have twins under 5 and then have another child you unfortunately can not claim under this scheme.

Click here for more info from WINZ or here for a list of WINZ contact numbers

Trainee Nannies

Some mums (and dads) with infant twins just wish they had another pair of hands but don't have the financial resources to employ somebody to help. Therefore a trainee nanny may be a good solution for some families. Nanny training schools such as Ashton Warner Nanny Academy need families with babies to take their students on placement for approx. 3 weeks at a time. While it does involve some work on your part (giving feedback and support etc) it can be extremely beneficial to have extra help even just for 3 weeks. Click here to see details of the Ashton Warner placement scheme on their website.

(If anyone else knows of other schools that offer FREE placements I am more than happy to add them to this page.)