“Would I recommend Home-Start? Yes a million times over, you don’t realise what an impact you have had on my life.”
Home-Start is one of the UK’s leading family support charities. We help parents to build better lives and better futures for their children. We have been supporting families for over forty years right across the UK and on British Forces bases in Germany and Cyprus too.
We believe that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the key role in giving their children the best possible start in life and helping them to achieve their full potential.
To find out more about our work, and why we need support, please watch our Changing Futures film
In an ideal world there would be no need for a charity like Home-Start. All parents would be free of the stresses and strains of raising their children. But for many parents the pressures of family life are simply too much to cope with alone. There can be so many reasons for this; poor mental health, illness and disability, poverty, isolation and lack of family support networks, the list is endless. We want to see a society in which every parent has the support they need to raise happy and healthy children
Across Birmingham there are six Home-Start charities working in diverse communities throughout the city. It is our vision that one day, every single family across Birmingham, who is struggling to cope, will be able to have a Home-Start volunteer
Are you a family looking for support and would like to refer yourself to Home-Start?
This website is for reference and information about the Home-Start Birmingham consortium. Each Home-Start is an individual charity in its own right, with its own funding, staff, volunteers and board of trustees. To find out more about the six Home-Start charities across Birmingham, and the services they run, from home visiting volunteering, to groups and targeted support work, contact them individually, by visiting their own webpages:
Home-Start Birmingham Central and South-West
Home-Start Birmingham South
Home-Start Birmingham Tameside
Home-Start Birmingham North West
Home-Start Cole Valley
Home-Start Birmingham North and Inner City
What We Offer Families
Home-Start Birmingham also offers Targeted Support for families who need short-term intervention, for very specific needs. Our aim is to build resilience, promote family independence and where appropriate, break the cycle of dependency.
One family who has received Targeted Support from Home-Start said:
“Home-Start really supported me when I had to send my young daughter for surgery and I knew no one in Birmingham. I was so worried, I had no friends or family in Birmingham to help me. I needed someone to help me as I have an autistic son and four other children so who would look after them if I went to surgery with my daughter. I was referred to Home-Start and after just the one meeting a lady came with me to the hospital and looked after my children in hospital so I could go down to surgery with my young daughter. I will never forget Helen, she was a real encouragement, she was a mother herself so she knew how difficult it was for me. I will never forget her, Home-Start set my heart at ease. My children are happier and more settled because I am able to be in a better position with the support I receive from Home-Start, I am more confident knowing that help is at hand for me and I have peace within.”