Many communities rally around a sick or injured child by organizing a fundraiser. Help is given in various ways, ranging from donation jars in local stores to an organized fund drive using all the local media. There are many pitfalls to avoid in fund raising, and great care must be exercised to protect the child’s privacy as much as possible. Because there have been some unfortunate scams in which generous people were bilked out of contributions for sick children who did not exist, if you decide to try fundraising, it is best to obtain legal assistance so donations will go into a trust fund to pay your child’s medical expenses.

If your child is on or seeking SSI or Medicaid eligibility, donated funds must be held in a special needs trust and paid directly to providers. If the family receives the money, or the child’s Social Security number is used to open the bank account, the child can lose funding from both SSI and Medicaid.