Home-Start Better Start
January 2017 to June 2024
Home-Start Better Start is a peer support intervention, providing emotional and practical support to families with 0-3 year olds who are finding parenting challenging.
Non-judgmental, compassionate and confidential support is provided in the home by volunteer peer supporters who have lived-experience as parents/carers, and really care about helping other families live happier lives.
It was delivered as part of the Better Start Bradford programme from 2017 to 2024 by Home-Start Bradford District.
How this project was delivered
Families were assessed by a Family and Volunteer Coordinator and matched with an appropriate trained volunteer. Families received weekly visits from their volunteer peer supporter to provide extra help around parenting, their own or their children’s wellbeing, and practical household skills.
Volunteers were carefully selected for their parenting experience, friendliness, practical approach and understanding, and brought a flexible offer of support to families enabling them to bring about the changes they wanted to see in their lives. The volunteers also connected families with other services.
The project was deliberately flexible and non-prescriptive, both in the nature of the support offered and the length of engagement with each family.
Background, impact and findings
Further reading
Download this snapshot of Home-Start Better Start, with headline stats, background, impact and learning (PDF).
This report provides an overview of project performance and findings from an implementation and before-and-after outcome evaluation by the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub.
Home-Start Bradford District is an independent charity committed to promoting the welfare of families with young children and providing volunteer-led support in families’ own homes.
Tanya is one of our Home-Start Better Start volunteers. Here she shares how volunteering has increased her confidence and helped her with her own anxiety issues.
Zara, a mum of four children in Bradford, describes her experience of stepping out of her comfort zone to provide peer support to other families in her area.
Phoebe took the time to talk to us about how she felt her Home-Start volunteer has helped her during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Home-Start Better-Start helped mum of two Phoebe*
When 35-year-old Aisha* gave birth to her second child, she felt that the world was completely against her, he felt very alone until support came in the form of Home-Start Better Start volunteer Tanya Marshall.