Can I be a Homestart volunteer if I have two very small children?

[Bky]

Hi
I have applied to be a Homestart volunteer and have someone coming to see me soon. But I have two very young children, 18 months and 5 weeks, and no childcare for them when my partner is at work (10am-7pm Monday - Friday).

Can I still do it, do they need volunteers for evenings or weekends, as it is visiting people in their houses I obviously can't take my two with me.

Is something I really want to do, I really hope this won't count against me but have a feeling that it might.

We had people on my training course with babies. I know that one of our volunteers visits specificly at bathtime to help her family out. I think it depends on the individual needs of the families concerned.

HomeStart's charter is to provide a befriending service for either a morning or an afternoon per week and one of the reasons for this is because, in case of emergency, it might be harder for you to contact your organiser or committee member quickly at night. However, each scheme is flexible and I think it's great for you to consider volunteering. I certainly get more out of it than I give.

Good for you.

It sounds as if you should be a recipient rather than a giver! Why do yuo want to do it now? And where on earth do yuo find the energy!?

I should mention that the training course is a huge committment as it runs for a full day a week over 11 weeks. Children couldn't attend really as sometimes the participants get emotional....you will cover some aspects of child protection and domestic violence training that are harrowing but necessary. That might be something to consider.

hi, i used to be an organiser for homestart

the answer is a definite yes, as long as you can find cover for the course / visits

weekend and evening volunteers are wonderful- we never had enough! esp. for say, working parents coming to terms with a disability, and mny wont care what day youre there.

good luck and well done

oh and you will need cover for ytraining, definitely (may not be 11 weeks- ours was 8)

and we all carried mobiles and were on 24 hr call

Thanks, they run a traing course on an evening so that wouldn't be a problem for me, just the visiting of people if it had to be in their homes and it had to be during the week.

I want to do it now because, why not, I had a hard time with my first baby, a difficult birth that I couldn't get over, I live in a city with no family and know very few people. My relationship at the time was at death's door (thankfully it is fine now) I was suddenly all alone with a newborn.

I know what is like to be lonely, I had post natel depression, cried a lot about my birth and wish I had had a friendly face, just someone who had the time to sit and listen to me talk about how I felt. It would have made a huge difference to my life.

When pregnant with DD2 I saw a pregnancy support midwife, she turned my life around, and gave me amazing support, I came to terms with my first birth which I thought would never happen.

I don't have much to offer but if I can help someone in the way I was helped, just to offer pass on the kindness I recieved to someone else that needs it now.