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Duchess of Cambridge receives Royal welcome to
Home-Start
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge has heard stories from
volunteers and families about the work of Home-Start on a visit on
Wednesday 18 March.
At Home-Start Greenwich she learnt about the work done by local HomeStarts across the UK. Home-Start Sheffield supports over 800 children and
families in the area. The Duchess talked with other parents of young children
and learned about the challenges they can face and how Home-Start is
supporting them.
Her Royal Highness was told about Home-Start’s 15,000 volunteers who are
supporting 32,000 families across the country in their own homes.
After a private meeting with two families who told The Duchess about the
difficulties they have had to overcome and the difference Home-Start had
made to their lives, Her Royal Highness went on to a coffee morning. There
she chatted with parents about the stresses on them and their children when
life gets hard, coping with post-natal illness and how parents can support
each other through group work. Volunteers described their work in families'
own homes.
Home-Start provides support to families facing pressures caused by
isolation, mental ill health, multiple births, bereavement, disability, poor
housing or financial stress which can all have a devastating effect on parents
and their children.
The Duchess then saw a volunteer training session in which volunteers were
being taught how best to offer practical and emotional support in a family's
home. She was also told about the training they are receiving to carry out
Home-Start’s new project, Big Hopes Big Future which is designed to prepare
young children for school.
Finally Her Royal Highness said hello to a group of young children in the
onsite crèche. The children presented her with a handmade card before she
chatted to families about how the crèche helps them.
As she left the centre The Duchess was presented with a bouquet of flowers
and a bag of books and toys from Home-Start’s Big Hopes Big Future project
for His Royal Highness Prince George.
Marvellous Nyanhi, who along with her son Tanisha presented The Duchess
with her gifts, said “The Duchess had a chat with my little one and asked him
about the colour of the flowers. She asked me why I am here so I told her I
was a supported family at first but now I am training to be a Home-Start
volunteer.”
Rob Parkinson, chief executive of Home-Start UK showed The Duchess
around the centre throughout her visit and said, “It was a great honour to be
able to show The Duchess our work. The Duchess really wanted to hear
about the challenges that parents of other young children can face and she
was very engaged with all of the families and the issues that they talked
about.
“The work that The Duchess saw here today in in Greenwich represents the
incredible work that is done by 288 local Home-Starts up and down the
country. The Duchess has heard first-hand from families whose lives have
been turned around with the support of Home-Start, and that show just how
important our work is.”
Home-Start has a network of over 16,000 volunteers in 288 communities
across the UK, as well as in British Forces bases in Germany and Cyprus.
ENDS
Notes to editors – not for publication
Images: See attached
Further pictures from the visit are available from The Press Association.
If you do not have a press association account, please contact Home-Start UK
for further help (mhann@home-start.org.uk oraobrian@home-start.org.uk or
0116 258 7931/33). .
Further details about Home-Start’s work locally from:
Home-Start runs more services and has more volunteers supporting more
families than any other family support charity in the UK.
Its 325 UK schemes are supported by 15,000 Home-Start volunteers
visiting families at home each week.
Volunteers provide non-judgmental practical and emotional support and
help build the family's confidence and ability to cope.
Usually referred by social services, health visitors and support workers,
they are there for parents battling against isolation or bereavement,
those juggling the pressure of a multiple birth, illness or disability as well
as those who are simply finding parenting a struggle.
The Sheffield scheme was set up 30 years ago and has supported 8,500
families and children in that time - an average of 250 families a year. It
has over 100 volunteers at any one time.
Home-Start help to increase the confidence and independence of families
by:
 Visiting families in their own homes to offer support, friendship and
practical assistance
 Reassuring parents that their childcare problems are not unusual or
unique
 Encouraging parents' strengths and emotional well-being for the
ultimate benefit of their children
 Trying to get the fun back into family life
Our volunteers, who have parenting experience themselves, can offer:
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Precious time for listening and talking
Help with the children and a break for parents
Practical help and reassurance
A chance to meet other parents in similar situations
Support to use local services and resources
Parents ask for Home-Start's help for all sorts of reasons:
 They may feel isolated in their community, 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 physical or mental illness
 They may have been hit hard by the death of a loved one
 They may be really struggling with the emotional and physical
demands of having twins or triplets - perhaps born into an already
large family
 The need for Home-Start as great as it has ever been, we need
many more.
More family stories are also available. Different photographs can also be
provided if required.
The Manager of Home-Start Sheffield, Jack Scott can be contacted at
Home-Start on 07875 014281 orjacks@hssheffield.org.uk .