James Hopkins Trust

About James Hopkins Trust

James Hopkins Trust provides vital nursing respite care to life limited and life threatened children in Gloucestershire. Our specialist care is provided at Kites Corner, the home of James Hopkins Trust or within the family home. Our respite is day-time care and 24-hour overnight respite breaks from our own team of James Hopkins Trust nurses and care team.

Our children have so many different and complex nursing needs which can be challenging and exhausting for their families. Some of our parents will know their baby has a condition that will cause severe disability or shorten their life before they are born, other babies will be diagnosed soon after birth or in early childhood.

James Hopkins Trust was set up by a couple from the Forest of Dean in 1989 by a Vance & Heather Hopkins in memory of their their son James, who passed away aged 22 months. James has a rare genetic condition and complex medical needs. There was no break for his parents, no respite facility for their medically fragile child. In the wake of James’s death, Vance & Heather raised some money, £300, which they used to pay for a nurse to provide some respite care for a life threatened young child. That’s how it started. On the 17th September that year, which would have been James’s birthday, they registered James Hopkins Trust as a charity. A few years later our specialist centre, Kites Corner was built. In 2015 Kites Corner was extended and 3 bedrooms were built.

It costs JHT over £700,000 per year to provide nursing respite care to the 104 children and their families that we currently support throughout our county. We pro-actively raise these funds with our own fundraising events, support from local businesses and the community as well as grant making trusts.

Sadly, parents do not know how long they may have with their precious child. James Hopkins Trust takes pride in making magic memories for the children and their families to treasure.

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