As a parent, you'll know just how tough it can sometimes be. Did you sometimes long to have someone to talk to, to confide in or just to share a coffee and a chat with? Home-Start offers this kind of support.
Our carefully trained volunteers, who all have experience of bringing up children, give emotional and practical help to any parent with at least one child under five. By visiting a family in their own home and offering friendship, Home-Start volunteers represent a lifeline for many families who are finding it hard to cope.
YOU could have exactly the skills needed to make a difference to a family living locally.
Home-Start volunteers are all ages and from all walks of life. All we ask of them is that they have experience of bringing up children and can spare between two and four hours a week.
This varies. You could spend time with a young parent, helping to build their confidence as they adapt to life with a small baby or share an outing with a family who finds getting out of the house difficult. The visits might involve offering an extra pair of hands to a family with several children or providing a listening ear to a mother who is suffering from post-natal illness.
Yes you can. We always need volunteers, parent or non-parents, who could support schemes by helping with fundraising activities or joining local management committees and getting involved in the running of schemes. For these roles you would not need to be a parent.
"I left school at 16 with no qualifications - completing the course for Home-Start is like receiving an honours degree, and this is just the start ... I've got the taste for learning."
The recruitment and selection of volunteers is done very carefully as we are sometimes placing volunteers with very vulnerable families.
After the initial enquiry - usually by phone - each potential volunteer will be sent out some information about Home-Start UK and Home-Start MAJIK and if they are still interested an appointment will be made for an initial interview with the Co-ordinator.
If the Co-ordinator feels that the person is a suitable candidate for volunteering with Home-Start MAJIK, they will be offered a place on the next Volunteer Preparation Course. They will also be asked to fill in an application form, which asks for the names of two referees as well as other relevant information about the applicant. A check for offences by the Scottish Criminal Records Office is also required. No volunteer would become involved with any family without these checks being completed.
The duration of the preparation course depends on whether it is held at night or during the day. Daytime courses last 6 weeks and evening courses last 9 weeks (see next page for preparation course details).
The Preparation Course is designed to do two things:
At the end of the course, there is a final interview when the volunteer will be told whether or not they have been accepted as a Home-Start home visiting volunteer.