Home-Start Oxford and Bicester
At the centre of all that we do and all that is best about Home-Start are our 60 active volunteers. They come from all walks of life, vary in age and ethnic background but share an unshakeable commitment to the welfare of the families they support.
Last year , 2009-10, our volunteers helped 97 families with 238 children between them. Some of these families referred themselves but many others came to us via Health Visitors, Children’s Centres and Social Workers.
Our small, part-time staff team supports our volunteers. Two Co-ordinators recruit, train and provide ongoing supervision of the volunteers. One Family Support Worker specialises in short-term, highly complex families where volunteer support may not be sufficient, and our Administrator keeps the whole show on the road in our Blackbird Leys Office.
Our funds come from those Children’s Centres who wish us to work in their communities, from sources such as Children in Need and from many smaller but cumulatively just as important organisational and individual donors. Last year our budget was just under £100,000, sadly a considerable reduction on the year before because of public sector cutbacks.
Home-Start Oxford is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. It is managed by a group of charity trustees who form the Management Committee
Home-Start Oxford and BicesterHome-Start UK
We are an independent local charity. But we are also part of the nationwide Home-Start UK network. This consists of a central body Home-Start UK and 334 affiliated local Home-Starts.
When Home-Start was founded in 1973 no-one involved in our unique parent-to-parent support service imagined that one local Home-Start in Leicester would be so effective and so popular with families that it would expand to more than 300 within 30 years.
Today all local Home-Starts are supported by Home-Start UK which is itself an independently registered charity. It assists local Home-Starts by providing: up-to-date training for staff, volunteers and trustees; information and guidance on governance; legal and human resources advice; help with fundraising; lobbying of national and local government and funders; providing national quality standards; and representing Home-Start in regional and national groups.