Home-Start Manchester

Where do they work?: City-Wide
Telephone: 0161 721 4493
Address: Woodville Family Hub Shirley Road Manchester M8 0NE
Registered charity number: 1105353
Company number: 05183477
Description: Home-Start Manchester provide volunteer-led home-visiting support to families living across Manchester with at least 1 child under the age of 5 years old.
Services delivered: Weekly volunteer-led practical and emotional home visiting support to families with at least 1 child under 5 years.
Services are available: Face to face
Services are delivered on: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Monday opening time: 9am
Tuesday opening time: 9am
Wednesday opening time: 9am
Thursday opening time: 9am
Friday opening time: 9am
Cash donations: You can make a donation to us online here https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/donation-web/charity?charityId=1014920

Volunteering Opportunities

Opportunity title Summary
Home Visiting Volunteers Home Start Manchester are currently recruiting for home visiting volunteers to offer emotional and practical support to vulnerable families.
Christmas Wrapping Volunteer Home-Start Manchester need volunteers to help gift wrap presents on Saturday 18th December and Tuesday 21st December.
Fundraising volunteers Homestart Manchester are looking for volunteers to help us with our fundraising efforts so that we can raise more funds to support more families and children in Manchester!
PIMH Volunteers Parent Infant Mental Health are looking for new volunteers to be involved in our Parent Infant Mental Health Project!
BAME Family Support Volunteer - Home Start Are you a member of the BAME community in Trafford, Salford or Manchester? Are you bi-lingual or have language skills, in particular Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic? Can you spare two hours a week to support families?
Family Support Volunteers Home Start Manchester is a family support charity looking for volunteers to offer 2-3 hours a week of emotional and practical support, usually within a families home.
Home Visiting Volunteer Do you have two hours a week to spare?

Want to get back into work?

Would you thrive from working directly with Children and Families in need?

When you volunteer with one of our childrens services, you will be helping the UKs most disadvantaged children & young people in the most direct way possible.

To become a volunteer with Home-Start ALL you need is a desire to help and 2 hours a week to spare and we'll give you all the training and support you need

Role description

Following a selection interview, checks and preparation training home visiting volunteers are carefully matched with a family at a time that suits them. The volunteer will visit the family each week for a couple of hours, usually in the family’s home and/or surrounding community. How volunteers help is really down to the family – some may need someone to talk to, others may need more practical help with getting out, meal planning and cooking, playing with the children or finding out about local services. All we ask is that volunteers do not look after the children without the parent being present, do not do regular housework for the family, do not carry out intimate care or healthcare and do not take the family in their own car.



In a nutshell volunteers may:

visit families in their own homes, where the dignity and identity of each individual can be respected and protected
reassure families that difficulties in bringing up children are not unusual
emphasise the positive aspects of family life and parents’ strengths and resilience
develop a relationship with the family that is built on trust and shared understanding
encourage parents’ strengths and emotional well-being for the ultimate benefit of their own children
role model and guide parents to develop healthy, safe and stimulating relationships with their children
provide practical help with managing the home and money
provide support and guidance around parenting and child development
safeguard children and vulnerable adults
promote positive adult relationships
encourage families to widen their network of relationships and to use effectively the support and services available in the community

All volunteers are carefully recruited and selected, and prepared before being matched with a family. Volunteers must commit to completing the 6 module, 3 day Course of Preparation, annual safeguarding refresher training and other additional training.

Volunteers must also commit to 6 weekly Supervision and completion of weekly diary sheets which document their visits.

All prospective volunteers must fill in an application form, provide two references and agree to an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service, as well as attending a selection interview.

What can volunteers expect from Home-Start?

We aim to treat all volunteers with respect and undertake our responsibilities to them fairly and recognise that each offers their own unique qualities and has their own needs for support. We will ensure volunteers have:

comprehensive and up-to-date information about Home-Start
an individual interview with the Coordinator before commencing the Course of Preparation
a Course of Preparation to prepare for visiting families and opportunities for on-going training to support the volunteering role
clarity about the role and a support action plan, including who is responsible to who, and who will provide support if there are any problems
sufficient information about the family to prepare them for visiting, including any risks and the steps taken to mitigate
effective supervision and support for individual volunteers with the Coordinator, and regular volunteer support group meetings
reimbursement for agreed out-of-pocket expenses
opportunities to evaluate, comment on and contribute to the work of Home-Start
an understanding of how to raise problems or make a complaint
information about and access to the Board of Trustees
opportunities to join with other volunteers for coffee mornings and drop ins
Dads Matter Volunteers Homestart Manchester Dad Matters Volunteers