Our Charity History

We had been supporting parents with child to parent violence who were attending our other programmes but in September 2020 thanks to Sussex Community Foundation we were able to develop a targeted pilot Who’s in Charge? child to parent violence programme.

This provided a springboard for us to secure two years funding for families residing in East Sussex and Brighton & Hove

Staff and trustees were proud to receive SafeLives Leading Lights accreditation in recognition of the quality of our Lotus Domestic Abuse Recovery Programme.

The SafeLives Leading Lights programme is designed to recognise and reward good and safe practice in risk-led community-based domestic abuse services including recovery group work programmes. It offers a set of standards for supporting domestic abuse victims through a risk-led approach and is designed to ensure that victims receive the same level of service, regardless of where they are in the country.

Our long-established volunteer home-visiting service was primarily funded by East Sussex County Council from our formation.

In response to economic pressures, in March 2016 a strategic decision was made by ESCC not to fund early intervention services, including our home-visiting service and toddler group. In that same year HSES supported approx 300 families.

HSES is now funded by various independent grant providers, fundraising events and donors.

The two independent Home-Start schemes based in the county merged to become Home-Start East Sussex.

Home-Start Hastings & Rother (est. 1988) had covered Hastings Borough and Rother District.

We worked in partnership with Belltree Music Therapy CIC to develop and run a Sing and Grow music therapy group for disabled pre-school children in Uckfield.

Thanks to the Big Lottery Fund and Wealden District Council funding, the volunteer home-visiting service expanded into the Wealden District.