Peter Griffin Planwise Financial Services

Medical insurance aside, many parents don't think about insuring their children.
While the death of a child is traumatic, it does not generally cause a family financial loss beyond funeral costs. However, a seriously disabled child, one who can never properly fend for themselves, let alone work and earn a living as an adult, will usually represent a massive financial loss to most families.
A child who is seriously disabled will need someone to take care of them; and really, there are only two options – pay someone to do it, leaving you and your spouse or partner to continue working – or one of you makes call to give up work and do it yourself.
Both options are likely to cost thousands of dollars each month, either in expenses or lost income. Work and Income New Zealand benefits might be payable, but are usually very modest. The child disability allowance is less than $50 per week. Some of the most frequent causes of permanent disability in children are severe head injury and loss of limbs due to motor vehicle accidents. If you are still not convinced bad things can happen to children, consider why we have Starship, a specialist hospital for children.
Every year, Starship sees more than 100,000 children. Fortunately, most will go home soon – but there are many unfortunate children admitted with cancers, head wounds, severe burns, permanent disabilities and strokes.
Their lives, and their family's lives, will be changed forever. It is natural not to think about the unthinkable, but bad things do happen.