Home-Start Dundee offers
friendly and confidential support to families across Dundee
with at least one child under five years of age.
Many parents have become overwhelmed or exhausted and
too often they have no close family member or friends
who can give them encouragement or breathing space when
they need it.
Volunteers, who are normally parents themselves, visit
families at home and are friendly, approachable people,
who are relied on and trusted by parents to listen without
being judgemental, and to respect the needs of each individual
family.
Volunteers usually visit for two hours once a week and
continue for as long as needed. Families choose to accept
Home-Start Dundee’s support and also choose when this
support should end.
Our service is tailored to suit the family’s needs and
is completely confidential. Personal information about
the family is not disclosed to anyone outside Home-Start
Dundee without the family’s consent except where there
is a concern about the safety or welfare of a child.
Families can refer themselves to Home-Start Dundee, or
be referred by a Health Visitor, Social Worker, Nursery
Nurse, Doctor, Family Support Worker, other Voluntary
Organisations, etc.
A volunteer can:
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Visit the family regularly,
usually once a week for a couple of hours. |
|
Reassure parents that difficulties they
experience are not unique to them. |
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Encourage parents to use local resources. |
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Encourage parents, by highlighting the
positive aspects of their parenting. |
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Play with the children – to help stimulate
children, or to give the parent some space and time
for themselves. |
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Help the family get out – perhaps to
keep appointments, shopping or taking family to
parks, etc. |
|
Volunteers can share their own parenting
experiences and quite often they can be a listening
ear. |
What Home visiting Volunteers Don’t Do:
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Volunteers are not home helps.
|
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Volunteers are not babysitters.
|
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Volunteers must not take
children to their own homes. |
To find out more contact Home-Start
Dundee or complete the
Referral Form.
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