Type of service: Respite and short breaks, Family support and information services

Home-Start's informal and friendly support for families with young children provides a lifeline to parents and children across the East Midlands. Support is free, confidential and non-judgemental. In fact, almost 25% of families refer themselves to Home-Start - which speaks for itself. Home-Start helps 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. Home-Start's 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.

Aimed at: Adolescent , Child , Parent/carer of a child

Specialisms: Generic