Supporting families with young children

Home-Start Athenry is voluntary group in which volunteers visit families with young children in their own home, offering friendship, emotional support and practical help. Home-Start volunteers are experienced parents who take part in a 9-week Preparation course before being matched with a family.

Home-Start support is available to families that have at least one child under five years of age and live in the Athenry, Oranmore or Loughrea area. The families are usually referred to Home-Start by their Public Health Nurse and may be feeling isolated due to ill-health, financial difficulties, depression, relationship breakdown or simply because they are trying to respond to the demands of young children without much support.

Home visiting is central to the Home-Start approach which relies on a realistic, flexible response and a caring attitude. Volunteers build on the strengths of the family, sharing time and friendship. They offer families an opportunity to develop new relationships, ideas and skills.

Families are empowered through the personal relationship which they develop with the volunteer. They are offered support for as long as is appropriate and may choose to accept or opt out of the relationship at any time. Home-Start also offers weekly Family Mornings (like a parent-toddler group), parenting courses and family outings.

Home-Start Athenry is a joint initiative by Galway Rural Development Co. Ltd.(GRD), The Health Services Executive (HSE) and The Galway City & County Childcare Committee (GCCCC) and was established in 2005 following a successful application for Cohesion Funding. The initiative is funded and supported by Galway Rural Development in conjunction with funding from the Health Service Executive.

The Home-Start model of Family Support originated in Leicester in 1973 and there are now schemes in 18 countries worldwide, with over 300 schemes in the UK alone.

The aim of the visiting is to support parents while the children are still young, thereby helping to protect the parents’ good mental health and ensuring a good start in life for their children.

For further information on how you can benefit from Home-Start support or how you can become involved with Home-Start as a volunteer or supporter, please contact Michael Stapleton (Co-ordinator) on 086 8098255 or 091 844335, email homestartathenry@eircom.net or log onto www.homestartireland.ie or call into the office which is located at the offices of Galway Rural Development.