Where can I donate good quality second hand baby clothes/toys/bedding etc in the South East (UK)?

[ivehadtonamechangeforthis]

Ideally I would like to donate to a women's refuge type place.

All the big charities just want you to donate to one of their shops but I keep reading more and more women are escaping abusive relationships, often with children, leaving with nothing and going to women refuges.

Posting here for traffic - thanks.

I'd contact your council and ask or just Google women's refuge services in your area, I can't see them giving exact address details as they dont tend to be 'advertised' or addresses shared etc for good reason but there may be a drop off point.

I would try the women's refuge in your area first.

I have to say though when I tried to donate several boxes of baby stuff and childrens clothes I had no luck as they just never got back to me. I'd offered to drop it off wherever they liked (as obviously they like to keep their locations as unknown as possible) but never heard despite emailing a couple of times.

Has Google not thrown anything up in your local area?

Normally the refuges have drop off points.

Children's centres can often help

I do understand they want to keep the addresses secret, but I contacted a refuge very close to wear I work, I only realised it was a refuge because I kept seeing really young girls (teens) with babies gathered outside and it was a huge imposing building so I googled it and it used to be a mother and baby home and is now a refuge. I've emailed them several times but no one ever gets back to me.

Nothing coming up anywhere near me on google.

If it comes to it I'll donate clothes to a shop and toys to my local hospital for their childrens' wards.

It's just that I want to 'give' the items to people who need them rather than donate to a shop so people still have to 'buy' them.

I called my local refuge and they collected stuff from me

I would take it to your children’s centre. They will either find a home where that sort of stuff is very much needed or signpost you to local charities that can help.

Ask at your council offices if there are any donations being coordinated for refugee families in your area.

They can be really busy op, and have more pressing things to deal with, can't really blame them for not getting back to everyone, and sometimes it might just be that they don't need any donations at that time. dont be disheartened. Taking them to your local children's centre is a good shout or even charity shopping them helps someone somewhere

These are "baby banks" (like food banks, but for baby equipment) instead of refuges, but are any others in the right area?

www.stripeystork.org.uk/babybanks/

But if a charity sells them and gets money to spend on things it actually needs, then isn't that an equally good option?

I volunteer with a small homeless charity and we get some people insistently trying to give us things that actually we don't really need. We'd much rather have the cash and then buy the very mundane things we really need (Knickers! Bras! Socks! Many socks! Robust shoes! Toothbrushes!) than stuff we are actually pretty well equipped for. And obviously we don't do second hand knickers anyway.

So it's great that you want to donate stuff - but don't rule shops out.
It shouldn't be about your feelings but about what is most useful for a charity.

That said, if there is an Emmaus House near you they will often take stuff and redistribute it around other smaller charities that have specific needs for the items donated.