REFERRALS

Home-Start Surrey Heath works alongside statutory agencies and receives referrals from:

• Health Visitors
• Children's Services
• Children's Centres
• Community Mental Health Team
• Schools/Churches/Hospitals

Families are also able to self-refer.

The Organiser gets to know the families so that they can be matched with a suitable volunteer, who will be introduced to the family as soon as possible and who will visit weekly for as long as they are needed.

Referral reasons:

Referral reasons vary and sometimes there is more than one reason for the referral. However they often include one or more of the following:

• Twins or Triplets
• Child’s health problem
• Loneliness/Isolation
• Parenting Skills
• Disability
• Relationship problems
• Depression/Post-Natal Depression

When the visiting ends we ask the referrers for their comments on the service received. Here are some samples of the views expressed:

"Much more than support – focussed on what the family really needed to help improve confidence and self-esteem plus practical help. Excellent help to this family to enable the parent to enjoy her child"

===

"If the volunteer had not been there, there would have been less development of child and more family stress - very satisfied with the service"

===

"This was a very difficult time for the family and Home-Start helped her come to terms with the situation"

===