Frequently Asked Questions About Wishes
A child must meet certain criteria in order to be eligible to receive a wish from Rays of Sunshine.
Read more information and see our FAQs below.
<Applying for a Wish FAQs>
Who can apply for a wish
For a child to be eligible to have a wish granted by Rays of Sunshine, the child must:
1. Be currently living with a serious or life-limiting illness
2. Be aged between three and 18 years of age*
3. Be a UK resident
4. Not had a previous wish from Rays of Sunshine or another wish granting charity
5. Not be in remission or post-treatment for more than five years
*A completed referral and wish application form must be received the day before the child’s 18th birthday to be accepted
Frequently Asked Questions: Wishes
We are now only accepting referrals from medical professionals, so please speak with them directly and ask them to make a referral on your behalf. *We would consider a medical professional to be – consultant, nurse specialist, play specialist, social worker.
Once we have received the wish referral, we will email the family directly with a link to complete the application form. For an application to be accepted, we require the parent or guardian to agree to the terms and conditions as laid out in the application. Failure to do so will result in us having to decline the application.
No, however we are currently running at limited capacity of referrals per month. We would ask that you look at our medical criteria (link to medical criteria page) first before applying or give us a call on 020 8782 1171 and speak to a member of the wish team if unsure the child would qualify.
You should receive an automated message from us once you have successfully completed our referral or application form. Due to the high volume of enquiries we receive, we ask that you only contact us if you don’t receive an automated email.
We ask that completed applications must be received the day before the child’s 18th birthday to be considered for a wish.
If you’ve received an email from us saying your child’s wish has been approved, a Wish Granter will be in touch as soon as they have availability to start making your wish happen.
Our social media regularly showcases our wishes, but you can also take a look at our website on our wish stories page or head to our ‘What can I wish for?’ page to see the types of wishes we grant.
Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the general increase in travel prices, Rays of Sunshine are currently closed to new requests for international travel wishes. We cannot guarantee when or if we’ll be re-opening to these kinds of wishes, but still have lots of exciting and personalised options to make your child’s wish truly magical. See our ‘What can I wish for’ page for some inspiration..
Family members living in the same household as the wish child will be considered to attend the wish. This includes parents/guardians and siblings only. If there is a sibling aged 18+ who would like to go on the wish, we will need to see proof of residency, i.e. utility bill. Any sibling aged 21 years old and over would not be included and would need to make their own arrangements.
We ask that you only apply for your child’s wish when you are ready to take it. We cannot keep wishes open indefinitely and aim to grant all wishes within a 12-month period (exceptions will apply). We do appreciate that there may be occasions outside your control that may impact when the wish takes place. We can therefore make an exception based on changes to the medical condition of a child or family member approved to take part.
Please note, any applications received for children that have been out of treatment/in remission for 5+ years or more will not be considered for a wish.
Sadly not, we do not part fund wishes and cannot accept requests to pay towards trips already booked independently.
Every wish application is reviewed by our team against our medical criteria, which is available on our website. In order to do this, we use the information provided to us by you and your child’s medical professional during the application process. We understand that medical conditions can impact everyone differently and for that reason, each application is assessed thoroughly and fairly on an individual level, based on the information we have available to us. For that reason, our application forms are designed to collect as much information as possible on your child’s condition.
If your child’s wish has been declined and you would like to appeal the decision, please email wishes@raysofsunshine.org.uk. We would ask that you put in writing why you feel your child would meet our criteria and submit recent clinic letters in support. Please note, you can only appeal a decision once. We cannot guarantee the decision will be reversed but will assess the new information alongside our medical advisors.
