Home-Start

Parents who turn to Home-Start are often going through a little too much at once. They experience stress and usually have no family members, friends or acquaintances nearby to fall back on. A Home-Start volunteer is a temporary extension of their network.

Every family goes through a period when things are not going so well. This can have many causes: overwork due to illness, difficulties with the children, few social contacts, problems at work, lack of money or tensions between partners. Usually families can solve their problems themselves. But sometimes families need a listening ear, support with parenting, or a helping hand with practical problems more than usual. This will be more often the case as families have less of a social network to fall back on. Home-Start supports these families based on the belief that if you want to support young children, you have to support their parents. Home-Start wants to prevent everyday problems from growing into serious and long-term problems. Volunteers encourage parents to (re)find their own strength to cope with difficult situations, giving them a grip on their lives and more. Home-Start encourages families to strengthen social relationships and make efficient use of facilities and regulations. After all, parenting is not something you can do alone.

Contact every week

Home-Start volunteers have experience in parenting themselves and visit parents at home every week. The parenting support by volunteers is equal and informal. One of the mothers says: "What helped me enormously was that the volunteer really listened to me. She asked what I needed, instead of forcing something on me. She held up a mirror to me and let me think for myself. That approach suited me. She felt like a friend who wanted the best for me and my child. The help lasted long enough to give me time to cope on my own as a mother again." A Home-Start volunteer can offer temporary support and friendship, has time, listens and caters to what parents themselves ask for. This seems simple and little, but the effect is great. Home-Start volunteer work is free for families.

About Home-Start

Home-Start has now been in the Netherlands for thirty-one years. The parenting support program is used in more than twenty countries worldwide. Originally, it comes from the United Kingdom. In 1973, as a professional social worker, Margaret Harrison discovered that people like to stay ahead of problems and want informal contact. Home-Start's parenting support continues for at least up to 10 years after the volunteer leaves, a study showed back in 2015. The positive, empowering way of working is key for the family, prevents isolation or derailment and helps children grow up healthy and safe.

Home-Start is part of the youth policy and is offered to parents by the municipality in which they live. As a result, more and more families receive support from a Home-Start volunteer. Parents are usually alerted to Home-Start by referrers such as the area team, municipal health service, GP or social worker. Home-Start can also be offered alongside other assistance. Parents also increasingly find their own way to Home-Start.

Would you like to share your parenting experience and volunteer to support a family? Or could you use some support as a family? Feel free to contact Mariëtte Zijlema, coordinator Home-Start Zuidoost Friesland.

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Municipality of Opsterland