A Helping Hand for Immigrant Families

Children & youth

Jan 19

Who: Følgesvenn, Norwegian Church City Mission

What: Support to immigrant families with children with disabilities or chronic diseases

Where: Bergen

Project period: 2022-2024

Web: Norwegian Church City Mission

Følgesvenn is a project that provides support for immigrant families who have children with disabilities or chronic diseases. These families have additional challenges related to e.g culture, religion, language or knowledge.

Through Home-Start volunteers receive training to provide good support and be a helpful companion for these families. Our main aim is to facilitate a good match between each family and their volunteer. During weekly meetings the companions assist their assigned families.

They organize annual parties for the families. Last year, they arranged the first conference on the subject of "Family, children, minority and disability". The conference was an arena for the families and volunteers to meet participants from various academic institutions and the public support system.

One of the attending parents said: "For the first time we were not just the parents of a child with Down's syndrome."

Følgesvenn in Bergen is organized by the Home-Start and the Church City Mission.