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Home-Start Family Services

CfC FP ObjectiveHealthy young families
Supporting families and parents
Delivered toParents or caregivers of children up to the age of 5 (especially parents experiencing difficulty in their parenting roles, who lack support or who are under stress)
Delivered byTrained volunteers
Support workers
Delivery settingHome-based
Community-based
Program developerHome-Start Worldwide, Home-Start Family Services Australia

About the program

The Home-Start Family Services program is an evidence-based program offering:

  • practical parenting support and training
  • family case work
  • community connection for parents who need extra support.

It is aimed at families who are isolated, lonely, have a mental or physical illness, or are experiencing other issues related to parenting.

Program structure

The Home Start Family Services program involves trained and screened volunteers visiting a family in their own home once per week. The volunteers offer:

  • friendship, support and practical help to families
  • help for parents to build on their strengths, enhance their parenting skills and find contentment in their family life
  • support for building family networks and using community resources
  • strategies for strengthening family relationships.

For more information visit the Home-Start Australia website.

Evaluation and effectiveness

A quasi-experimental study was conducted in the Netherlands with 105 families (54 intervention, 51 control). This study examined whether the Home-Start program:

  1. improved maternal wellbeing
  2. led to behavioural changes with the mothers and their children (Asscher et al, 2008, p 95).

Overall, the results of the study were mixed. Asscher et al. (2008) observed that Home-Start mothers scored higher than the comparison group on several measures, however, only two measures showed a significant effect.

The Home-Start group reported significantly greater consistency in parenting and showed more sensitive behaviours when interacting with their child when compared with the control group. Positive changes were achieved in maternal competence and in two aspects of positive parenting behaviour. There was no effect size noted for maternal depressive moods.

When looking at the mean data both groups of children showed a decrease in behavioural problems, however, any changes in child behaviour could not be attributed to the Home-Start intervention due to lack of significant results in the data.

Reference

Asscher, J. J., Hermanns, J. M., & Dekovic, M. (2008, January 1). Effectiveness of the home-start parenting support program: Behavioral outcomes for parents and children. INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, 29(2), 95–113.

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