FAMILIES with children aged under five will now have more support available. UK-based Home-Start provides free support for families with young children who are under significant short-term or long-term stress.

Home-Start management committee member Jane Le Conte said the organisation, which has 330 centres in the UK, would fill a gap in the island’s care system for young people, children and families.

‘The organisation has been going for 30 years, so it’s tried and tested,’ she said.

‘Young people, families and children in the island don’t necessarily have anyone to turn to when they are in stressful situations.

‘After consultation with service providers in the island that work with families, the general consensus was that Home-Start would fill that gap,’ said Mrs Le Conte.

‘The great thing about it is that a family under stress can be referred or refer themselves and the family are in charge of the process, which means it is completely voluntary and user-friendly,’ she said.

‘A family can get in contact at any point when they feel under stress, whether it be short- or long-term, and that is when volunteers can go into the home, provide support and often end up being family friends.’

Mrs Le Conte added that members of the families who have been helped sometimes go on to become volunteers themselves. ‘I think that speaks volumes about how Home-Start works,’ she said.

Home-Start south-west coordinator Julie Phillips will be in Guernsey tomorrow and on Friday to launch the local scheme at public presentations.

Home-Start also requires volunteers, possibly with a family of their own, who can give up some time to make home visits, be involved in group work or attend social events.

* The presentations will take place at Roseville Community Centre at 8pm tomorrow and at 10am on Friday.