Can anyone tell me about Homestart?

[rickman]

Message withdrawn

Here is one , here is another of the previous threads, may help.

Hi rickman - I'm vice-chair of my local Home-Start, so perhaps I'm biased - but I think they're great (I know ours is).

The volunteer will work within strict confidentiality guidelines - there are some very obvious limitations to these guidelines - which she should explain to you. She should not be there to do things for you, but to give you support so that you can do things for yourself (with her support). She might be able to advice re; carer & toddler, or other support groups, etc / might encourage you to take the kids to the park, etc (with her). She should be carefully matched to your 'need' - and might have similar experiences to yourself (if you're lucky). Home-Start volunteers are very well-trained, and have to have experience of being a parent themselves.

Some of the information on the links that have been given below is wrong. For example;

I'm concerned about the volunteer who took the child out whilst the mother cleaned ...a volunteer (or a paid worker) should not take your kids anywhere without you - this is definately against policy and practice. HS VOlunteers are not trained as childminders...nor are they covered by insurance to look after any kids without the parent present.
Neither are they government funded - we have to fight and struggle for funding regularly and get absolutely no government money!!

PS - we offer a totally different service and focus to Sure-Start - but are compatible and often work in partnership with local Sure-Starts.

have a 'friend' from homestart coming each week, we just talk, drink tes and she empties dd's bed of toys when i put her down for afternoon nap...shes lovely and just what i need...a slightly older role model for advice and someone to tell me im doing my best........
was really nervous at first as thought it would be like counselling, but it isnt..shes great!!
hurray for cath..hurray for homestart

My Mum was a HomeStart volunteer for a few years - basically she likes to support people and also, as we lived in England at the time, she wanted to have a "granny" type role.

As far as I know her role was as a supportive friend rather than a childminder or cleaner or whatever. She helped out a few families over time - one mother (who wasn't well) needed her to entertain her toddler while she had a lie-down, and another had a large family and needed someone to give attention to the younger ones when the big ones got in from school. She would generally be playing with or maybe feeding a toddler, or chatting to the mum, which was a big part of it as well. What she was doing basically sounded a bit (to me) as something similar to what I would ask a mother's help to do - i.e. be an extra pair of hands with the children, but with me generally around as well.

I should probably add that my Mum isn't in the best of health - she is also elderly and IMO wouldn't be able to cope with a child on her own for any length of time. I imagine that the organisation would "tailor" volunteers and families to suit each other, so perhaps volunteers who are maybe more capable than my mother might do different things.

For a start you could maybe ask if she'd like to play with your children while you get on with something else? That way they could get to know each other.

they generally assess you(have a chat, find out what your needs are) then decide what type of helper to assign to you..mine was a 'mother figure', some people might need help keeping thier house, others support with life in general, but really good idea!

i am a volunteer and no one has ever told me not to take the children out without the parent!!!
yesterday i washed and changed her new bby, gave him a bottle, washed the bottles and put them in the steriliser, made us both a cuppa, got him ready to go out, followed mum to petrol station and watched car whilst she went in to pay, helped her in to mums and tots then left them to it.
whilst i did the above the mum had a shower, got dressed, had her breakfast, packed her bag for M&T and emptied the tumble dryer.

just thought a run down would give you some idea.
hth

Hi SantaQuated, if I were you, I'd have a serious discussion with your scheme organisaer about their policies. This is about protecting you )(and HS) from potential accusations ... it's not just about the kiddies. You could be really setting yourself up for a fall. I would be extremely concerned if one of our volunteers was taking sole responsibility for the child/children. Be careful.

i have spoken to my organiser this morning about this and she is happy about this. she says that as long as the volunteer isn't being put upon and being used as a free babysitter/childminder then we support the family in whatever way we can, within reason. her view was that if we weren't able to be with the children alone wthen it would be very difficult to do our 'job' properly. taking your cautious view seems to be joining the 'world has gone OTT' brigade. each volunteer has been police checked and has standard disclosure; but because of my job i have enhanced disclosure; so the family are as reassured as they would be anyway. from my point anyone working wih children is at risk of some accusations; but to limit support seems to be unnecessary

sorry
anywhere not anyway

my initial consultation i was told that my helper could look after dd while i got on with house work or have a relaxing bath etc, i was also told that if i needed a break it was also ok for her to take dd for a walk as long as that was ok with me???????

that sounds fine MrsW and just as our HS works.

SantaQuated - it's not about limiting support. HS offers a support service, not a minding service. You appear to have taken offence at my post. No offense was intended, I was simply stating that regardless of what you may have been told...Taking any child out without the parent is against policy and encouraging a volunteer to do this is setting them, and HS, up for a fall.

I also note your comments about the "world has gone OTT brigade". Yes, Volunteers are police checked - although ours all have 'enhanced' disclosure (as recent rulings actually state they must). As for reassuring families - all police checks show is that a person hasn't been prosecuted for anything - not that they are fabulous law abiding citizens.

I agree with your point that anyone working wih children is at risk of some accusations - we could also say that walking down a street with children on it puts us at risk of accusations - but neither of these practices are ill-advised.

joash, is homestart available in scotland? what kind of families usually are in need of homestart?

nailpolish, hi, yes it is avaialble in scotland
here is the website

joash - i didn't take offence, but it does irraitate me that people's first reaction to situations is to protect yourself from false accusuations, in my mind it goes with the compensation culture and to me it tarnishes everyone.
i agree we are a support service and not a minding service. but very often the most support you can give is to lighten the load by minding the children.
we can support in numerous different ways and taking the children out for an hour whilst the mum has a quiet uninterupted bath and paints her toenails can have HUGE benefits and to me this is support not minding.

this is interesting reading

homestart sounds like a wonderful service

AQ - you are a lovely person, sounds gushy but i mean it

thanks nailpolish. i do it because i enjoy it. it's a lovely way of meeting new people. the others on my training course are now good friends. the course is veru comprehensive and at times deep and moving.
very often women who receive the help of Homestart go on to be volunteers themselves. i volunteered after they provided a lifeline to my friend who was isoalted with a newborn baby.

yeah, they asked me to think about doing it too as i want to work with children(initially in schools..teaching assistant etc), she thought i had the right type of personality to do it(nice compliment!)...think it would be very worthwile once i get myself sorted.

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yes, rickman it must be strange but you will quickly get used to it
could your volunteer go with you to the party? if she can't go then do go on your own; there will be loads of other volunteers and organisers there to help you out if you need them to.