Home-Start Wokingham District is one of a network of 340 Home-Starts in the UK offering a unique service: recruiting and training volunteers – who are parents themselves – to visit and support young families with at least one child under five years old.

We aim to help give children the best possible start in life, Home-Start supports parents as they grow in confidence, strengthen their relationship with their children and widen their links with the local community.

We support parents who may need help due to a range of factors, including:

– Feeling isolated because they have no family nearby and are struggling to make friends in their community
– mothers with post-natal depression who need emotional support and a listening ear.
– having several children under five including twins or triplets.
– having children with additional needs or a disability.
– one or both parents may have a long term illness.
– single parents on a low income and may have issues with housing.

We offer a variety of support options including:

– A carefully selected, experienced parent volunteer, who will regularly visit a family in their own home, usually for a few hours every week. This friendly tailor-made parent-to-parent support is a simple yet effective way of enabling families to get back on track.

– Outreach and family groups so parents can get out, meet others, and become more involved in their own community.