Lots of interventions are time limited - Home-Start is not and that makes the difference
Who can Home-Start help?
Home-Start Portsmouth can offer support to anybody that has at least one child under the age of 5 and lives in the Portsmouth area. We do not prioritise people's needs, but rather we support families on a 'first come, first served' basis. We support families for a variety of reasons. As a parent, people might ask for Home-Start's help for all sorts of reasons:
- They may be feeling isolated in their community, have no family nearby and be struggling to make friends.
- They may be finding it hard to cope because of their own or their child's illness.
- They may have been hit hard by the death of a loved one.
- They may be really struggling with emotional and physical demands of having twins or triplets - perhaps born into an already large family.
Who can make a referral?
Anybody can make a referral to Home-Start Portsmouth as long as the family being referred are aware of the referral. Families are also able to refer themselves.
How do I refer?
To make a referral, you will need a referral form; you can download a form below or get in touch with us at the office and we will be happy to fax or post one to you. The person that you are referring must know that you are completing the form and ideally will be with you when you complete it. If there are questions on the form that you are not able to answer, don't worry; just fill in the parts that you can. We will always carry out our own assessments of the family anyway. If you have any questions about how to complete the form, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Get the latest free version of adobe reader to download the Referral Form.
What happens next?
Once we have received a referral form, we will be in touch to let you know that it has been received. One of our co-ordinators will then contact the family and arrange to visit them in their home in order to tell them more about Home-Start Portsmouth and how we can help. The family might decide that they would like to attend one of our support groups or they might like to wait for an appropriate volunteer to become available. We will make sure that the referrer is informed at every stage including when the family is matched with a volunteer and at each of their reviews and, finally, at the end of support.
