The tragedy of the young Nelson father who killed his severely brain-damaged, five-month-old daughter struck a special chord with some Hamilton families.

They are the clients of a new child health service, which aims to support families at and from the moment their child is diagnosed with a chronic, serious or life-threatening illness.

True Colours manager Cynthia Ward, a palliative care nurse, said some of the 89 families the service has helped since it was established in May had also been given heartrending news about their newborns.

A jury acquitted the 34-year-old father of murdering his daughter after being told she had a rare condition, lissencephaly, which meant her brain hadn't developed past 13 weeks and would never improve.

Inevitably, the Hamilton families in similar circumstances discussed the case; some felt angry the child's life had been taken, others said "but for the grace of God, there I go", Ward said.

The handling of the Nelson family's situation has prompted a complaint, believed to have come from the man's extended family, to Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson.

True Colours gets many referrals from Waikato Hospital's newborn unit and Ward said it's important to "walk along beside the family" as events unfold.

"Support is needed at the time of diagnosis," she says, "much earlier than when palliative care is needed."

I first met Ward more than a year ago when I wrote about a similar service, Rainbow Place, she had established not long before under the umbrella of Hospice Waikato.

It was the first agency of its kind in the country, and had literally responded to a crying need. In years of caring for the dying, Ward had found that too often in the painful hubbub surrounding terminally ill people, children's thoughts and feelings went unvoiced, unheard or misunderstood.

For three years Ward worked towards a child-centred service, asking families she encountered at Hospice Waikato about children's experiences, how they could be helped, what they needed, and what could be done better.

She talked to health professionals at the Waikato District Health Board, paediatricians, specialists in children's care at Auckland's Starship children's hospital, district nurses and other palliative care nurses.

Rainbow Place - named for children who imagined rainbows were happy, safe places - was the result. It covered the Waikato and Midland health regions with a mix of counsellors and nurses offering services from play and art therapy to a sympathetic ear.