Home-Start home visiting volunteers support families (who have at least one child under five), in their own home.  Families are referred from a variety of sources: Health Visitors; Social Services; Nursery Staff; Women's Aid etc, but anyone can contact us and ask for help.

Home-Start supports families from all sectors of the community and for many varied reasons.  These include new mothers, multiple births, single parents (mums and dads), mothers with postnatal depression, families who are isolated, families where there are health problems, financial problems, housing or relationship problems – in fact anything which is making life stressful.

Home-Start can offer a flexible approach, which can hopefully meet the individual needs of each family.  Volunteers are carefully matched to a family and then visit for two to three hours once a week.  Volunteers help by listening and offering companionship, helping with Doctor, hospital or clinic appointments, playing with the children or just by providing another pair of hands.

There is no time limit to our support – other than if your youngest child reaches the age of five - and the co-ordinator will keep in touch to review the visiting on a regular basis.

The service Home-Start offers is completely confidential and information about families will not be shared with anyone outside Home-Start except when there is an issue around child protection.  Anyone who refers a family to Home-Start will be told when the support starts and ends, but no other information will be passed on unless there is a concern about the welfare of a child.

Home-Start home-visiting volunteers are all parents themselves and understand the stresses and strains in bringing up a young family.  All volunteers are thoroughly vetted.  We take up an enhanced disclosure with The Central Registered Body (Scotland) and two references.  In addition to this they will attend a course of preparation, before being accepted as a home-visiting volunteer.