Our story
Our Chief Executive Officer Danielle Bergin MNZM JP founded Island Child Charitable Trust, with the support of her mum Wendy Tattersfield. Their original aim was to provide medical aid to families in the Pacific, hence the name. In 2008 Danielle established an organisational base in Tāmaki. Her own experiences of homelessness led her to reach out to homeless Māori and Pacific whānau, applying empowerment principles and a whānau-centred approach.
Over the next decade, Island Child developed a hardworking team, organisational infrastructure, wide-ranging networks and funding relationships to support an evolving 12-week residential programme. Earning Child, Youth and Family Services accreditation status led to government contracts. Danielle also highlighted housing issues in the media and at conferences.
In 2018 we purchased and began renovating three neighbouring properties, with support from key government agencies, philanthropic partners and generous private donors. We tripled our transitional housing capacity, increased our team, upgraded our systems, documented our story and enhanced our evaluation framework. When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, we were able to respond quickly to ensure a safe and healthy environment.
Since then, we have partnered with Tāmaki Regeneration Company (TRC) to increase transitional housing service delivery in Tāmaki. We now manage a TRC transportable housing village at Tripoli Road in Panmure. We continue to grow our team and make programme innovations. In 2022, our transitional housing capacity grew by almost 50 percent. Our journey continues!
