Manawatu Family Start

What is Family Start? 

Family Start is a free and voluntary home-visiting service that offers early support for families who are expecting a new baby or who are already caring for a new baby.

This service is for families experiencing personal or family and whānau situations that make parenting more challenging.

Family Start provides support and guidance from a child-centred, strengths-based approach.

Here are some of the things Family Start can support and assist you with:

• understanding how babies grow strong, be healthy and learn
• forming strong bonds between you, your child /tamariki and your family and whānau
• safety awareness as baby grows and develops
• healthy lifestyle choices, including family and child nutrition
• becoming more confident about caring for your tamariki
• putting you in touch with other community agencies and services you may need, e.g. housing, early childhood education centers 

How Family Start can help:

Being a parent is one of the most important, the most challenging and yet the most rewarding jobs anyone will ever do.

With your consent, a family worker will visit you at home and work with you to develop a plan for what you want to achieve for your family and whānau.

Your family plan is designed to encourage you to look at new ways to manage problems and difficulties and at the same time help you enjoy raising your tamariki in the healthiest way possible.

How to be part of Family Start:

You can be referred to Family Start by your doctor, midwife, Well Child provider, Child, Youth and Family and other agencies. You can also contact us yourself.

Once we have received the referral, we will arrange to meet with you to discuss the Family Start programme.

Our service is sensitive and responsive to your cultural beliefs and we will endeavour to match an appropriate family worker to your family and whānau.