Current jobs related to Advocacy and Participation Worker - Scotland - With Kids

Who Cares? Scotland is Scotland's only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Ourmission is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect, and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland and wecurrently have over 3500 Care Experienced members.

At the heart of Who Cares? Scotland's work are the rights of Care Experienced people, and the power of their voicesto bring about positive change. We provide individual lifelong relationship-based independent advocacy and abroad range of imaginative participatory and engagement opportunities for Care Experienced people acrossScotland. We work alongside Corporate Parents and communities to broaden understanding and create change. Wework with policy makers, leaders, and elected representatives locally and nationally to shape law, policy, andpractice, working together to build on the aspirations of The Promise and securepositive change.

This unique role offers the opportunity to listen to and work directly with children and young people with experienceof care, in an individual relationship-based advocacy role, and within participation and group activity acrossShetland.

The post-holder will be a key member of the Advocacy and Participation team, supporting young people from acrossShetland to ensure their rights are upheld and their voices are heard. These roles offer the opportunity toprovide independent advocacy, children's rights, and participation opportunities for children and young peoplewho are looked after, Care Experienced, or subject to formal processes and structures. You will activelyparticipate in child plan meetings, children's hearings, and other formal processes, as well as assistingchildren and young people to prepare for them. In partnership with other professionals, carers, andorganisations, you will help to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people by keeping detailedrecords of the work you undertake, writing liaison reports, and monitoring statistics.

As a vital part of the work of Who Cares? Scotland, these roles include facilitating group opportunities for and withchildren and young people across Shetland. This includes providing engagement and participation opportunitiesthroughout the Who Cares? Scotland local and national network, as well as meeting with care experienced childrenand young people to introduce the service in agreement with the local authority. Raising awareness of Who Cares?Scotland and its services with children, young people, professionals, and carers you will also be responsiblefor facilitating training amongst corporate parents.

The right candidates for these posts will be able to form positive relationships with children and young people andhave good interpersonal skills which demonstrate compassion, empathy and understanding for lived experience. Youwill be confident communicating with individuals and groups, both in written and verbal format, with the abilityto adapt to a wide range of contexts. You will work autonomously, prioritizing and managing your own diary tomeet organizational and young people's needs. You will be able to evidence your work and keep accurate recordsof advocacy interventions taken. You will take enjoyment from working collaboratively with partners, believingin equal opportunities and inclusive working.

Committed to children's rights, you know that all young people can make transformative change happen in their livesif given the opportunity. You will demonstrate knowledge of the current structure, developments, policy, andpractice in relation to children and young people experiencing care in Scotland. Flexibility is a must, and someevening and weekend work, including occasional overnights, may be required, along with a full driving licenceand access to transport.

While we would welcome the knowledge gathered through relevant qualifications, we are just as interested in relevantwork experience. We welcome and encourage applications from those with experience of care.

The successful candidates will be joining Who Cares? Scotland and working within the North team at an exciting time,when the voices of those who are in or have experienced care are growing in power, individually and collectively- bringing with them insight, challenge, hope and change.

If this role sounds like the opportunity for you, we would love to hear from you.

Interviews to take place on Monday 10th June

Who Cares? Scotland is Scotland's only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Ourmission is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect, and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland and wecurrently have over 3500 Care Experienced members.

At the heart of Who Cares? Scotland's work are the rights of Care Experienced people, and the power of their voicesto bring about positive change. We provide individual lifelong relationship-based independent advocacy and abroad range of imaginative participatory and engagement opportunities for Care Experienced people acrossScotland. We work alongside Corporate Parents and communities to broaden understanding and create change. Wework with policy makers, leaders, and elected representatives locally and nationally to shape law, policy, andpractice, working together to build on the aspirations of The Promise and securepositive change.

This unique role offers the chance to create and facilitate opportunities and activities for Care Experienced people,leading on participation to ensure Care Experienced people can share their views and experiences, and helping tobring about positive change.

The post holder will utilise and create opportunities for participation and belonging activities with CareExperienced people, whilst supporting a range of events and other local or national activities. Core belongingand participation activities will involve fun connection activities; issue-based and focus groups; and forums,and events, both one-off and longer term in duration. The role will involve working closely with organizationalpartners and other services to create new opportunities or develop existing ones.

Responsible for maximizing the networks through which Care Experienced young people can connect, develop, and grow asindividuals, you will use a range of communications channels to promote belonging and participation activitiesto Care Experienced children and young people. By developing accessible and applicable youth work tools andactivities, you will build upon your experience working with children and young people to create attractiveoffers locally that encourage Care Experienced people to join our membership.

In your capacity as a Development Officer, you will work closely with Who Cares? Scotland Volunteer Manager to ensurewe are providing the best support available to volunteers serving our young people. Through collaboration withour Participation & Membership Manager, as well as our fundraising team, you will identify and attract localfunding and fundraising opportunities to enhance our local offering to Care Experienced people. In doing so, youwill develop and maintain good working relationships with relevant regional organisations (e.g. Local Authority,Third Sector, Public Sector Corporate Parents) and gain experience in awareness-raising and promotion. Providingreports in relation to participation, belonging, and the impact of your work, you will bolster the evidence baseto support fundraising and awareness- raising opportunities, as well as to influence local policy initiatives,such as The Promise. As an ambassador for Who Cares? Scotland, you will be joining Who Cares? Scotland at anexciting time, when the voice of those who are in or have experienced care is growing rapidly across Scotland -bringing with it insight, challenge, hope and change.

The right candidate for this post will be able to form positive, empathetic, understanding and compassionaterelationships with children and young people and have good interpersonal skills, as well as experience indesigning tailored group work programmes. You feel confident communicating, with a solution focussed attitude.As well as evidencing your work, you can prioritise and meet deadlines. You hold knowledge of the currentstructure, developments, policy, and practice in relation to children and young people experiencing care inScotland. You are flexible, given the remit of the role, as some evening and weekend work will be necessary,along with a full driving licence and access to transport.

While we would welcome the knowledge gathered through relevant qualifications, we are just as interested in relevantwork experience. We welcome and encourage applications from those with experience of care.

If this role sounds like the opportunity for you, we would love to hear from you.

All roles at OPFS contribute to our mission of working with and for single parent families, providing support thatenables them to achieve their potential and help create lasting solutions to poverty and the barriers facingsingle parents and their children.

The Family Support Assistant role will contribute to the organisation's vision of a Scotland in which single parentsand their children are valued and treated equally and fairly by supporting and delivering the various componentswhich contribute to the Dundee Service.

The role will include the development and delivery of groups and events for single parents and their families. Theywill provide direct interventions to single parents and their families and support the work of Family Supportand Employability Workers. The Family Support Assistant will be promoting our work at networking opportunitiesand outreach activities.

Transforming the experience of child victims and witnesses in Scotland

Children 1st are looking for an exceptional and experienced operational leader to become our Bairns Hoosecoordinator/service manager in Aberdeenshire. You will co-ordinate children's journey through the Bairns Hoose,managing the space, liaising with agencies on behalf of children and their families and leading a team ofadvocacy and trauma recovery workers. Working within the Aberdeenshire Bairnshoose Development Group alongsideSocial Work, Police, Health and Justice colleagues to deliver on the ambition to offer children a traumasensitive, rights-based and recovery focussed response to their care, protection, justice and recoveryneeds.

The Bairns Hoose is based on the European Barnahus, a child-friendly, multi-disciplinary, and interagency model ofjustice, care and recovery for children who are victims and witnesses of all forms of violence. A carefullydesigned place where all services and supports are child centred, rights- based and recovery focussed withPolice, Social Work, Health, Court and recovery support services based under one roof.

This service demands a leader who is driven by children's rights, is passionately committed to trauma responsivemodels and who has a background in delivering child centred, family minded support and multiagency services. Youwill lead our team of Rights, Advocacy and Trauma Recovery Workers and ensure the effective and efficientrunning of the Bairns Hoose. As a member of the Aberdeenshire Bairns Hoose partnership, you will build on theprogress made to date and work towards achieving fully the aspiration of a Bairns Hoose for children and theirfamilies. As a key member of our Bairns Hoose Team, you will support our ambitions to have the highest qualityBairns Hoose delivering the greatest impact in the lives of children and families.

Our charity is a people and culture organisation. We put children's rights and relationships at the heart ofeverything we do. We have ambitious plans for our Bairns Hoose to deliver on the Bairns' Hoose NationalStandards, offering support to recover from the point at which children report abuse or harm, minimising there-traumatisation of the justice and child protection system.

The Bairns Hoose Coordinator role is challenging due to the complexity of the systems change that Bairns Hoose seeksto achieve, requiring significant multiagency partnership working. The role also provides an excitingopportunity for you to develop new approaches to practice within child protection and justice that helps informthe way forward for Bairns Hoose in Scotland. You will shape and lead a high performing team focussed onachieving the best outcomes for children and their families. You will be an excellent communicator, creative,collaborative, inclusive and willing to work alongside our brilliant partners and leaders in Aberdeenshire toachieve our shared strategic vision for Bairns Hoose.

This is an exciting and unique opportunity to join us and play a critical part in transforming the lives of childrenand families in Scotland, ensuring that children's voices are at the heart of our Bairns Hoose development andsupport.

About you

You will have substantial experience of leading a team delivering trauma sensitive support to children, young peopleand families. You will fully understand the ways in which the current justice and child protection systemsretraumatise young people. You understand that ambitious change requires a clarity of purpose and vision andthat as a leader it is your responsibility to communicate this. Your leadership and decision making are foundedon a strong value base of doing the right thing by children and families at all times. You understand thatstrong professional, working relationships are the foundation of quality outcomes for children and families andhigh quality practice within your own team and with external stakeholders.

Knowing our ambition for children and young people, you will:

• Want to transform children's lives
• Understand trauma and know that with the right support children andyoung people can recover – there is always a way
• Be able to build strong relationships, workcollaboratively with partners and manage tricky conversations
• Be resilient and calm when under pressure– modelling a clear and accountable approach to leadership
• Be an outstanding communicator
• Beenthusiastic, driven and able to motivate and develop a professional team, inspiring colleagues to be evenbetter
• Have a fierce passion for children's rights and belief in working with children and families; not'doing to'
• Believe that it is a privilege to work with and on behalf of children and families and thattheir voices should be at the heart of service design
• Be kind and willing to bring your whole self tothe job: heart and mind, above all else, you are someone who will do the right thing for children and theirfamilies at every turn.

If this sounds like you and your values align with ours then we would love to tell you more. An informal conversationwith our Assistant Director can be arranged for interested candidates.

Further information

This a full-time role of 35 hours per week. You will work across the Aberdeenshire area. As you will be leading anddeveloping a new service. Children1st are a relationship based organised and we need you to be a physicallypresent 'hands on leader' of an amazing team who are similarly 'hands on' and 'in person' in their support ofchildren and young people and families. The role may also involve occasional travel across Scotland.

Salary, Conditions, Pension

We will offer you a competitive salary, generous annual leave entitlement (40 days inclusive of 7 public holidays),flexible working opportunities and a contributory pension scheme. We also have a cash healthcare plan, cycle towork scheme and access to a credit union.

We are looking for Family Wellbeing Project Workers to join our team

Children 1st along with partners share a determination to act upon the recommendations from The Independent CareReview and deliver The Promise to children and young people. We are also determined that the full incorporationof the UNCRC means that children will have their rights respected in all areas of their lives and will have areal say in the way they are supported. Children 1st Family Wellbeing Service in Aberdeen City is fully alignedto Fit Like? Aberdeem providing whole family support to families aiming to be the right support at the righttime.

What kind of person will make a great Family Wellbeing Project Worker for Children 1st?

• has experience of keeping children safe in their own families

• is fiercely passionate about children's rights

• thinks it's a privilege to work with and on behalf of children and families and,

• is kind and will bring their whole selves to the job: heart and mind

What kind of Family Wellbeing Project Worker will you be?

Knowing our ambition for children, you will be someone who is:

• resilient, skilled and knowledgeable who wants to transform children's lives

• determined to support children to stay safely with their own family

• big hearted and courageous

• able to build strong relationships and to manage the tricky conversations

• is compassionate and understanding of trauma

• a cool head and clear minded at times of pressure

• inspiring colleagues and teams to be even better

• an amazing ambassador for children and Children 1st

Above all else, the most important thing to us is that you are someone who will do the right thing for children andtheir families at every turn.

Base

You will work across our 3 community based hubs in Northfield, Kincorth and Bridge of Don

Salary, Conditions, Pension

We will offer you a competitive salary, generous annual leave entitlement (40 days inclusive of 7 public holidays),flexible working opportunities and a contributory pension scheme. We also have a cash healthcare plan, cycle towork scheme and access to a credit union.

Hours

This is a permanent, full time post of 35 hours per week.

Hours to be worked flexibly to meet the needs of the service.