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Home-Start's informal and friendly support for families with young children provides a lifeline to thousands of parents and children in over 337 communities across the UK and with forces families in Germany and Cyprus. |
Our support is free, confidential and non-judgemental. In fact, almost 25% of families refer themselves to Home-Start - which speaks for itself. We help to increase the confidence and independence of families by:
- Visiting families in their own homes to offer support, friendship and practical assistance
- Reassuring parents that their childcare problems are not unusual or unique
- Encouraging parents' strengths and emotional well-being for the ultimate benefit of their children
- Trying to get the fun back into family life
Our volunteers, who have parenting experience themselves, can offer:
- Precious time for listening and talking
- Help with the children
- A break for parents
- Practical help and reassurance
- A chance to meet other parents in the same boat
- Support to use local services and resources
Parents ask for Home-Start's help for all sorts of reasons:
- They may feel isolated in their community, have no family nearby and be struggling to make friends
- They may be finding it hard to cope because of their own or a child's physical or mental illness
- They may have been hit hard by the death of a loved one
- They may be really struggling the with emotional and physical demands of having twins or triplets - perhaps born into an already large family
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