South Korean delegation visit Home-Start Southern Oxfordshire

A group of social workers, professors and journalists from South Korea has visited Home-Start Southern Oxfordshire to find out more about the work of the charity and how we support families who are struggling to cope. (Pictured right with staff from Home-Start Southern Oxfordshire).

The delegation was funded by the Korean Government (Ministry of Health and Welfare) to explore family support in the UK.

It was headed up by Rev. Dr. Byoungduk Sohn, Associate Professor of Social Work, Chongshin University, South Korea.

Also in the delegation was a Korean reporter who was covering the visit to the UK, two directors of social work and two other senior social workers from other family support organisations in South Korea.

They were visiting various organisations in the UK, but Home-Start was suggested by Professor Ann Buchanan, Director of Centre for Research into Parenting and Children, University of Oxford, as a ‘good example of practice’.

The visitors stayed for a couple of hours and over lunch heard and discussed how Home-Start works, how the organisation is funded, what it provides to families, and how it works in partnership with statutory services.

The visitors were also interested to find out more about how volunteering worked in the UK as the situation is very different in Korea with volunteering not being part of Korean culture.They went away with information about Home-Start in the UK and details of Home-Start International and the support they give to countries considering developing their own Home-Start.

One of the delegates in particular was extremely enthusiastic about how Home-Start could work in South Korea. They felt although there were differences in cultural attitudes and practice that the Home-Start model could work as families faced similar problems in both countries.

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