Starting in the home, Home-Start’s approach is as individual as the parents we are helping. No judgement, it’s just compassionate, confidential help and expert support. As a family support charity, we don’t just support parents to cope, but to feel confident to thrive in creating the best possible start for their children.

The majority (97%) of the parents we support are women. So finding ways to enable mums to grow, thrive and feel equipped to determine their own future is central to our work. Home-Start wholeheartedly believes that confident, secure and happy mums raise confident, secure and happy children. And we strive to ensure that cycle can go round again and again for the good of future generations.

Working with our partner White Stuff we asked our Home-Start network to share with us the many ways they empower mums to enable them to overcome the challenges they face through our Empowering Women survey. The survey shows that the challenges are varied and complex, including financial insecurity, debt, isolation, physical and mental health issues, domestic violence, stress and family breakdown.

More than fifty percent of our local Home-Starts shared with us the creative and innovative projects they run to empower women to build a brighter future. Employability programmes, Pram Walk & Talks, yoga and mindfulness sessions, confidence clubs, parenting classes and gardening clubs are just some of the activities run by local Home-Starts to provide mums with the support and tools they need to lift themselves up. 

We want to highlight some of these impactful projects happening in local communities across the UK through the Home-Start network. By sharing some of these successful projects, we hope it will encourage more parents to seek the support of their local Home-Start, raise awareness of the vital work we do and inspire our Home-Start network to test out new activities that their fellow Home-Starts are running successfully.

Read our showcase here.

We’d like to say a big thank you to White Stuff for their support in creating this study to shine a light on how Home-Starts across the UK empower women.