What we do

At Home-Start International we believe that every child deserves the best start in life. We know that sometimes families need a little help to get their children off to a good start, so we match experienced volunteers with families with young children, to offer help and support.

Around the world, Home-Start professionals and volunteers train and prepare volunteers, usually parents themselves, to work alongside other parents. A Home-Start volunteer will visit the family, usually once a week for a couple of hours, and share the ups and downs of raising a family.

Our support is free to the family and confidential, and our volunteers do not make judgements or tell the parents they visit how to live their lives. Instead, we try to encourage confidence and independence and to help parents build their own networks of friends and other support.

What we do will vary from family to family and from place to place, but we generally:

• Visit families in their own homes
• Reassure parents that their problems are not unique
• Encourage families to enjoy themselves together
• Build on parents’ own strengths
• Listen
• Help out

Home-based family support is the heart of what we do around the world, but in some places local Home-Starts find different ways of supporting families in need. Many groups and schemes provide playgroups for parents to attend with their children, or toy libraries where parents can borrow toys and activities for their pre-school children. Other schemes find unique solutions for the communities in which their families live. Everywhere, the focus is on helping vulnerable families through friendship.

Through a global network of around 20,000 volunteers, we support tens of thousands of families each year.

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