Who Can Be Referred?

Who Can be Referred?

Referrals to Home-Start

Home-Start Herefordshire works in all parts of the county with families who are experiencing difficulties or suffering stress with children aged 0 – 19 years old.

Families can find it hard to cope for a variety of reasons. For example

  • F_a_14_mum_and_boys_not_sharing_jpgThey may be feeling isolated.
  • Domestic abuse/substance misuse.
  • School attainment/school transition/child’s behaviour/child’s emotional well being.
  • Parents or child’s mental health or disability
  • There may have been a family bereavement/redundancy/relationship breakdown.
  • They may be struggling with the physical and emotional demands of having a new baby, young children, twins or triplets or teenagers.
  • They may need help with budgeting or healthy eating.
  • They may be suffering from post natal illness or be feeling low and lacking confidence.

 A family can be referred  to Home-Start Herefordshire, provided that they have a Early Help Assessment (EHA) in place and the referral has been agreed by the Multi Agency Group meetings.

 Alternatively a family can be referred if a parent is serving in the armed forces.

In addition to the above, if you consider that a family is in need of support please don’t hesitate to contact the office to discuss this further.

Families can also refer themselves in certain situations, please contact the office for more details.

Referrers include…

Health Visitors
Childrens Centres
Social Workers
Midwives
Early Years Practitioners
Community Psychiatric nurses
Other voluntary organisations
Teachers
Probation Services
G.Ps

Families can also refer themselves

The Referral process

Referrers should complete the Home-Start referral form, preferably with the family.

F_a_14_mum_volunteer_laughing_and_baby_jpgOnce the form has been received the Coordinators will consider the referral and the resources available.

An Coordinator will visit the family at home to discuss their needs and explain the support that Home-Start could offer.

A volunteer will be carefully selected and introduced to the family.

There may sometimes be a wait for the right volunteer to become available.

The referrer will be informed that the volunteer has started to offer support.

With the family’s written permission, the Coordinator will provide regular updates to the referrer. However the referrer will not have direct access to individual volunteers.

Referrers should be aware that Home-Start Herefordshire is not a crisis agency and cannot respond at very short notice.

The range of referrals or self referrals is not limited except where the resources available are not adequate to meet the number or complexity of cases.