Welcome to Home-Start Bristol
NEWS FLASH!
- Home-Start Bristol’s 25th Anniversary Celebrations
Date: Saturday, 7th July 2012 11am – 2pm - Please put this date in your diary!
Venue: Portway Rugby Development Centre, Portway, Sea Mills, Bristol, BS9 2HS
**INVITES TO FOLLOW IN POST SHORTLY**
Home-Start Bristol
Home-Start Bristol is an independent registered charity that supports struggling families, with at least one child under five, living in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
The small staff team recruits and trains local volunteers and carefully matches them with local families who need support. The scheme is managed by a board of volunteer trustees and is responsible for raising all its own funds.
We are funded by local authority grants and grant making trusts enabling us to provide this service at no cost to families.
What is so Special about Home-Start?
Many parents need help, friendship, advice or support during those early years when children are young. There is no rulebook for raising a family and sometimes it can seem overwhelming, particularly if your family is going through difficult times. Our volunteers are all parents themselves and understand the difficulties families may be facing.
Mission and Beliefs
Home-Start believes that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the key role in giving their children a good start in life and helping them to achieve their full potential.
Home-Start Schemes are rooted in the communities they serve. Home-Start has a proven, lasting, positive impact on the development of children and the health and welfare of the family.
The Families
Parents ask for Home-Start’s help for all sorts of reasons:
- They may be feeling isolated, have no family nearby and be struggling to make friends.
- They may be finding it hard to cope because of their own or a child’s illness or disability.
- They may have been hit hard by the death of a loved one.
- They may be really struggling with emotional and physical demands of having twins or triplets – perhaps born into an already large family.
Help is at hand. We support any family who needs us, as long as they have at least one child under five. There is no ‘typical’ Home-Start family. Our families reflect the diverse communities we serve. In 2009/10 97% of families supported reported that their well being was improved through the help of a Home-Start volunteer:
‘My treatment for breast cancer has now finished but HS will remain in our thoughts and hearts as the organisation who really did care and took notice of us when all others failed to.’
‘The support helped to increase my self confidence and self esteem when they were at an all time low.’
‘Encouraging and non-judgemental’ ‘friendly but not intrusive.’
‘A wholly positive experience from the initial visit to the months of support.’
If you have had any contact with Home-Start Bristol, we invite you to fill in our questionnaire – to help us improve our service. Thanks.
