Family Mentors (previously Volunteers Supporting Families) in Greenwich has been running since 2013, and is supported by The Royal Borough of Greenwich’s Third Sector Commissioning Framework.
The project recruits, trains and matches volunteers to mentor and support families with children at risk of neglect or harm. This could be that the child/children is/are on child protection, or that there are complex needs in the family such as; alcohol or substance misuse, mental or emotional ill health or domestic violence.
Our project staff match volunteers with a family, and support is given via weekly visits to the family by the volunteer by helping, offering advice or just listening to their problems. Our volunteers help keep families together; reducing the number of children on child protection/Child in Need plans. This is done simply by the parents to improve their parenting skills, reducing isolation by being a friendly face and overall improving the quality of family life. All of this reduce pressures and reliance on social care services.
Simply put, the volunteers who are part of the Family Mentors project must have an interest in helping people – both parents and children. Full training is provided, so it’s not necessary to have previous experience working with families. Often, our volunteers find that their own life experience helps them offer support to families.
