Lifestart aims to educate and empower parents of children aged from birth to five years so that these children are able to reach their full potential.

We work to enable parents to make informed, relevant decisions about the upbringing of their children and to help them recognise their own self worth and the importance of their role as the primary educators of their children. Lifestart also works to raise awareness around the importance of 'parenting' in the development of communities.



Lifestart is a home-based, developmental and educational family support programme. The programme is free of charge and offered to those who parent children aged from birth to five years (subject to availability within a community). It is delivered in the home by trained family visitors on a monthly basis using age appropriate issues of the Growing Child. Lifestart projects also deliver group activities for parents including modules on creative and practical parenting and personal development.



There are currently sixteen projects in Ireland – eleven in the Republic of Ireland and five in Northern Ireland with international projects in Macedonia and Zambia. Counties in Ireland with Lifestart projects include: Carlow, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Louth, Offaly, Sligo and Tyrone.