CYP Now - Opinion: Why a volunteer can be a friend in need

The charity Community Service Volunteers' decision to set up a child protection initiative looks brave. It's hard to imagine a more challenging environment for volunteers to work in than alongside social workers supporting vulnerable children and their families.

Yet there is already a tradition of initiatives that have usedvolunteers to help provide family support. And such schemes have oftenproved to be very popular with families, who value the practical andemotional support a befriender can provide. Parents especially like thenon-judgmental support that is offered by a lay person.

They may be popular, but do volunteer schemes work? Research evidence isnot encouraging. When scrutinised by researchers, programmes run byvolunteers rarely produce the kinds of positive outcomes that schemesrun by professionals achieve.

An evaluation by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation of Home-Start, avolunteer-run programme offering support and practical help to familiesunder stress, found that although mothers reported that they hadbenefited, there was no measurable impact.

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