Key Facts

  • Supporting parents in difficult situations to improve outcomes for their children and their family
  • Running in Edinburgh, Greenwich, Southend-on-Sea and Waltham Forest
  • Family mentors work with families with children at risk of neglect or harm

Due to COVID-19 we are still recruiting, but are operating remotely to maintain social distancing. Please get in touch with our team for more details. 

Volunteering Matters latest response to COVID-19

Family Mentors is an effective programme, proven to reduce the number of children at risk of going into care. By preventing and de-escalating issues, our volunteers help struggling families to turn things around.

Volunteers, recruited from the local community, come from diverse backgrounds and receive extensive training.  They act as trusted mentors, providing consistent emotional and practical support to families in their homes every week for six months.  Volunteers tailor their support to the unique needs of each family, building on strengths and promoting resilience.

Support is overseen by our professional volunteer managers, who are embedded within the local authority’s children’s services team.  This ensures that interventions are seamlessly coordinated and flexible, adding value to professionally delivered services. We provide the vital practical and emotional support to create brighter futures.

The projects recruit, train and match  volunteers to mentor and support families with complex needs, such as alcohol or substance misuse, mental health and emotional well being and where children are at risk of significant harm through neglect. Volunteers make weekly visits to the families building up a strong relationship with the parent/s, listening to their problems and offering practical help.

Run in partnership with Council Social Service teams to target families most in need of support, our volunteers help keep families together and reduce the number of children on child protection plans and child in need plans. By improving parenting skills, reducing isolation and improving the quality of family life the reliance on social care services is also reduced.

 

Read the 2021 Impact report for Family Supporters Edinburgh

 

Find out more about our Family Mentors project in your area….

FOR GREENWICH CALL 0771 492 065

OR EMAIL

HELEN.MAUNSELL@VOLUNTEERINGMATTERS.ORG.UK

 

FOR eDINBURGH call 073 7769 2427 or EMAIL

kyle.mcfaddenyoung@volunteeringmatters.org.uk

 

FOR Southend CALL 01702 534262 OR EMAIL
catherine.whitehead@volunteeringmatters.org.uk

 

FOR WALTHAM FOREST email us at:

chris.kelleher@VOLUNTEERINGMATTERS.ORG.UK

 

TO READ ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF ONE OF OUR VOLUNTEERS, ADELE, CLICK HERE.

 

Volunteering Opportunities run by this project:

Volunteers Supporting Families – Support Volunteer (Waltham Forest)

Due to COVID-19 we are still recruiting, but are operating remotely to maintain social distancing. Please get in touch with our team for more details.  Volunteering Matters latest response to COVID-19 Volunteers Supporting Families recruits, trains and matches volunteers to mentor and support families with children at risk of neglect or harm. This could be … Continued