Nov Home-Start Listening to Families Violet Greaves, Regional Consultant, North Wales

Nov Core belief Home-Start believes that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the key role in giving their children a good start in life and helping them achieve their full potential

Nov Our mission Home-Start offers support, friendship and practical help to parents with young children, in local communities throughout the UK and with British Forces in Germany and Cyprus

Nov Our vision and yours We want to see a society in which every parent has the support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. Parent=anyone who plays a significant role in bringing up a child.

Nov Why families need support Main reasons given to Home-Start: isolation parents’ and childrens’ emotional health and well-being difficulty in accessing local facilities/services difficulties managing child behaviour

Nov How families get in touch Health visitor Social worker Doctor Midwife Teacher or other education workers and 25% of the families refer themselves ‘Word of mouth’

Nov How we work with families Visited at home Not time limited Building Trust Free service designed and reviewed with the family Volunteer led. Professionally managed

Nov Why consult with parents? Parents are the biggest influence on children. Services will be more relevant and therefore better used. Parents may become more involved in the services. Responses will influence design; therefore it’s crucial there is a good representation.

Nov Hard to reach factors Physical Emotional Cultural Legal Economic

Nov Some examples Parents awaiting housing; spending months living in caravans in Rhyl. Parents who need interpreters to access services. Parents trying to balance expectations of education with cultural commitments. Father in prison. Five children, one with special needs.

Nov Methods of engagement Service users repeatedly stated that the best way for them to have more say in the services they use and for their knowledge to become valid in the eyes of service providers, was through better and sustained involvement, as opposed to 'tick-box' exercises.

Nov Some comments 1.‘Make forms easier to fill in and less confusing. Why don’t they try them out first on people like us?’ (parent) 2.‘It seems almost too obvious that if you want to provide a service the best person to ask about it is the people who will be its users’ (young person)

Nov Participation Def: A planned process where people are given the opportunity to express their views and ideas about something, these are recorded and acted upon and then participants are made aware of the impact of their views on decisions and planning (Funky Dragon).

Nov Time and Flexibility Families who have less time and flexibility are less able to access services and be involved. Families’ time is precious too. A flexible approach is needed to fully consult with families.

Nov Some Parents’ comments on ‘time’ ‘Well, I had a couple of hours last night to put the washing machine on’. ‘The thought of catching one bus, then another and then another to get anywhere – shops, job, a swim. You just don’t do it.’ ‘They flood you too fast, too quick, too impersonal. They make you feel stupid, thick. They said ‘she wants OT’ What’s OT? I daren’t ask’. “She was my armbands in deep water. She was very reassuring emotionally and would sit and talk to me if I wanted to talk. And she gave me what I call hands-free time.”

Nov Methods of consultation Questionnaires (designed with parents) Interviews (at home or in a group) Telephone, Texting, Internet (NetMums) Consultation events/activitites (Think Confidentiality, Health and Safety).

Nov Resources Consulting with families takes staff (organisers and administrators) and volunteer time, travel, transport, room hire, materials, telephones, mobile phones, Internet, resource manuals, training, monitoring, evaluation and review. Rewards for families: Trips/outings, goodie bags, payment, acknowledgement.

Nov Involvement Involvement of parents can lead to further engagement e.g. supported parents becoming trained volunteers, supporting other parents, and also being represented on Management Boards.

Nov Diolch/Thank You Violet Greaves: tel: