Many parents need help, friendship, advice or support during those early years when children are young. There is no rulebook for raising a family and sometimes it can seem overwhelming, particularly if your family is going through difficult times.

If you are a parent with at least one pre-school child under the age of five then we may be able to help you

Do you ever feel like this?

• Isolated in your community, with no family nearby and struggling to make friends
• Struggling with post-natal illness but finding it difficult to talk to anyone about it
• Finding it hard to cope because of your own or your child's illness
• Hard hit by the death of a loved one
• Struggling with emotional and physical demands of having young children, perhaps twins or triplets
• Struggling to cope with relationship problems
• Tired, unhappy, exhausted

A Home-Start volunteer may be able to help…

 A volunteer is someone who won’t judge you; someone who can provide a shoulder to cry on; someone to play with or read to your children whilst you peg out the washing or have a much-needed rest; someone to offer practical support like getting out to the park or medical appointments, or finding other sources of help if you have complex problems; someone you can simply talk to. You decide what kind of support suits you best…

 If you ask for Home-Start's help you can be sure of total confidentiality. There is no stigma attached to Home-Start's help - the fact that many families refer themselves to us is proof of that. All Home-Start's staff and volunteers have an enhanced level criminal records check.

 After asking for our support you will meet with one of our co-ordinators who will carefully match you with one of our volunteers. Our volunteers, who all have parenting experience, will visit you for a couple of hours a week and give you both emotional and practical help.

Safeguarding & Promoting the Welfare of Children

All Home-Start support is free and confidential. The only exception to our rule of confidentiality is where we have concerns about the welfare of a child, or to prevent harm to an adult. In these circumstances, information will be shared with the appropriate authorities. We can carry on supporting parents even if we have had to involve other agencies because of concerns about a child. The Home-Start co-ordinator who visits you can give you more details about this.