ABOUT US

HoSt Home-Start Czech Republic (HoSt) was founded in Praha (Prague) in 2003. In 2007 a branch was opened in Brno; in 2013 a branch was opened in Ostrava; in 2015 in Hradec Králové and 2017 in the Středočeský region.

HoSt specializes in work with socially excluded families with children up to 6 years of age with the support to families from volunteers with parental experience of their own. Our main goal is to prevent children being seperated from their families and also to help parents cope with problems in the areas of child care and education. In its work with families HoSt concentrates on strengthening parent-child interaction during the early developmental stages.

HoSt supports families in other ways as well: Professional social field work and Therapeutic work. The need for this kind of support to families grew out of the complex needs we came across as we worked within families. The specific feature of this range of HoSt’s activities is with so-called multi-problem families with socially weak backgrounds, including extremely difficult cases under judicial supervision.

HoSt is a Child Protection accredited organization and is approved to practice Social Legal protection of children in the field (according or in the frame of law of the Czech Republic).

“Family by Play” HoSt has developed a new practical play technique called “Family by play.” This method is useful for the development of better quality relationships between parents and their children by means of play. It’s unique in that it is used in the family’s natural environment, i.e. in a place the family knows best and where they can re-enact and successfully retain the experience. It also means that the family will not have to visit a doctor’s consulting room or any other specialist’s office because it can be used by professionals and also by volunteers who have been trained to use the method of play with families in their own homes. Volunteers have a much closer relationship with the family than social workers and can motivate and accompany a family more effectively.

This method of play seeks to uncover the hidden potential of the family so it is most important to take into account the developmental stages of the child and their attitude to play. We use special toys to attract both children and parents to play.

HoSt closely cooperates with the main authorities in the field of Child Protection in the Czech Republic and is a member of an advisory group for child protection with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Seminars and lectures are held about work with vulnerable children, attachment, child development and social skills in the child-protection context, guiding parents in their skills and specific methods of work with socially excluded familes etc.