Parents in the municipalities of Aa and Hunze can now call on support parents. Support parents are volunteers who look after a child one or two days a week, so that parents have some time for themselves.
The initiative is intended for families who cannot always rely on their own network. Support parent is already active in five other Drenthe municipalities and is now expanding to Aa and Hunze. The coordination in the municipality is in the hands of the welfare organization Impuls. They recruit supportive parents and link them to demand families.
Councilor Kiena ten Brink calls the initiative an important step for the municipality. “Support parent fits exactly with what we stand for in Aa en Hunze: a community that looks out for each other. It is important that families know that they are not alone,” said the councilor.
Claudia Deelstra from Impuls, the Support Parent Coordinator in Aa en Hunze, adds: “We form the connecting link between parents and support parents. After an intake interview with the parents, we look for a match with a volunteer who will look after a child one or two half days a week. We also guide the support parents and ensure that everyone feels seen and heard.”
Diny van de Geijn is the first support parent in Aa en Hunze. She previously gained experience in another municipality and decided to take on the role again after moving to Schoonloo. “As a child, I would visit neighbors to tell my story when that was not possible at home. Now my husband and I take care of a four-year-old girl who trusts us and calls us grandma and grandpa. She still comes occasionally, but the bond remains,” she says.
Support parent in Aa and Hunze joins similar projects in other Drenthe municipalities, such as Midden-Drenthe, Borger-Odoorn and Emmen. There, support parents also offer half-day care to children of parents who need to catch their breath. The initiative prevents families from having to immediately seek professional care.
Volunteers are still being sought who would like to be deployed as support parents. Demand families can also register atsteunouder.nl.
