Malta

Home-Start Malta – The First Year

Jacqueline Vella
Community and Generic Services
Agenzija Appogg
St. Luke's Road
Gwardamangia PTA 1318
Malta
Tel: +356 216 78043
home.start@malta.net.mt

Service Provision
There are currently 14 active volunteers offering their service to families.

Support and Supervision
Support is provided through regular supervision sessions, both on an individual level and on a group level, where the volunteers can share experiences and help each other through them. Supervision does not only serve as emotional support to the volunteers but also helps in their on-going training and in the implementation of the action plan which has been drawn up with each family. There is particular consideration for the volunteers training needs, with the idea of providing in-service training (for example first aid training) when this is necessary and possible. The Organiser has made herself accessible for volunteers whenever they felt a more immediate need for support.

THE FAMILIES
Reaching out to Families
Home-Start staged an awareness campaign at Home-Start to recruit new volunteers and reach out to families who feel that they could benefit from the service. The campaign to target volunteers was focused on newspaper articles and radio and television programmes. To reach out to potential users they employed a number of other strategies:

a. Informing professionals and other leaders in the community about the service

b. Informing social workers and other professionals who are not necessarily based in the community but would have contacts with families in the community;

c. Performing a series of short plays carried out by a local drama group (Abacus) portraying a family situation where Home-Start was needed, followed by a discussion. The plays were performed in Primary Schools in deprived areas.

Through these methods of reaching out to families, 21 families were referred. Out of the 21 that were referred, 12 are actively receiving the service (35 children).

Volunteers

Perhaps the most valuable asset of Home-Start is the volunteers.
One volunteer said this “After completing the course, I was feeling rather anxious about this new experience. However, I felt prepared to visit the families. The Organiser gave me continued support. The preparatory course also helped me on a personal level and while attending, I also made new friends”.
The relationship they build with the families is simply the foundation of the service, because it is through this that parents feel supported, thus initiating yet another process of development – this time, of the well-being of the family. For when parents feel the support, they too would go through the process of development – feeling better as a person and in turn, better as a parent. And what is more important to children than to have parents who are caring and attentive, who are able to provide the best care and affection to nurture them? This is fundamentally what Home-Start strives for. This is the ultimate goal that we have to reach.

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