Advocate

Job Title: Advocate

Service: Coram Voice

Contract Type: Part Time, permanent

Hours: 10 hour per week

Salary: £6,531 (FTE £22,858.53)

Location: Home based with travel to a Secure Children’s Home, South Gloucestershire (near Bristol)

We are looking for a dedicated Children’s Advocate to join our team and visit a secure children’s home in South Gloucestershire, near Bristol, to represent and amplify the voices of young people aged 10 to 18 who are in secure care.

About Coram:

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the children and young people. We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.

Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

About Coram Voice:

Coram Voice exists to enable and equip children and young people to hold the system to account, to challenge and support it to do its job properly and to uphold the rights of children and young people and empower them to actively participate in shaping their own lives.

Coram Voice strives for a society, which recognises, and willingly accepts, its responsibilities to children and young people, where the inequalities and discrimination they currently face have been eradicated. Where those children and young people are fully engaged in all decisions that are made about their lives. Where the views, needs and feelings that they express are at the core of those decisions.

Coram Voice is a national independent children’s charity established in 1975 and has grown to become one of the leading organisations for children and young people in the UK.

Coram Voice is a leading children’s rights organisation. We champion the rights of children. We get young voices heard in decisions that matter to them and work to improve the lives of children in care, care leavers and others who depend upon the help of the state.

Our Advocacy services offer direct support to children and young people in care, those in need, those in custody, care leavers, and those with mental health needs. Advocates across the country help ensure these young individuals have a voice in decisions about their lives. This support can be provided via a telephone helpline or through one-on-one advocacy, such as assisting a child at a review meeting or helping them file a complaint about their care. Coram Voice delivers visiting advocacy services to secure units nationwide, including Secure Training Centres, Juvenile Young Offender Institutions, psychiatric hospitals, residential special schools, and children’s homes.

About the Secure Unit:

The Secure Home accommodates up to 24 children, divided between two areas: 16 in the main home, which includes an educational unit, and a separate home for up to 8 young people. The children in this home require a secure placement for their protection and rehabilitation, and our role is to ensure that their rights are respected at every stage of their care.

About the Role:

As a Children’s Advocate, you will be an essential independent voice for the children in this secure home. You will regularly visit the home, meet with the children, and ensure their voices are heard in the decisions that affect their lives. Your advocacy will be pivotal in promoting their rights, safeguarding their well-being, and ensuring that their concerns and wishes are respected within the care planning process.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build trusting relationships with the children, creating an open and safe environment for them to voice their concerns.
• Conduct regular visits to the secure home to meet with the children, ensuring they feel safe and supported in expressing their views.
• Represent children’s interests ensuring their voices are heard in decisions about their care, treatment, and rehabilitation.
• Advocate for the Childrens rights, ensuring they understand their entitlements and are fully informed about decisions affecting them.
• Collaborate with care staff, social workers, youth offending team workers and other professionals to ensure a holistic approach to safeguarding and supporting each young person, as directed by the wishes of the child.
• Ensure that safeguarding issues are identified and addressed in a timely and appropriate manner.

What we’re looking for:

• Proven experience in children advocacy, youth work, or social care, particularly with children and young people in residential, secure, or care settings.
• Knowledge of children’s rights, safeguarding practices, care and youth justice system.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage children or young people from diverse backgrounds and support them in expressing their views.
• The ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• A commitment to ensuring that children’s voices are heard and that they are supported in making informed decisions about their lives.
• Empathy, professionalism, and a passion for making a positive difference in the lives of children and young people.

Why Join Us?

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of young people . As an independent advocate, you will have the chance to ensure that children & young people’s voices are always heard, that their rights are upheld, and that they are supported in making decisions about their future.

What you will receive

We wish to reward and recognise the valuable contributions our staff make to the organisation and offer an attractive benefits package to do so. Coram Voice benefits package includes a competitive salary, a matched pension scheme up to 5% of salary, generous leave entitlements of up to 25 days’ annual leave plus an additional 3 days paid leave between Christmas and New Year. A supportive work environment fostering a good work/home life balance and a suite of family friendly policies, which promote employee wellbeing.

You will get a genuine opportunity to make a difference every day.

Recruitment process:

Shortlisting will be undertaken by our Children’s Rights Managers. Successful candidates will then be invited for interview. The interview process comprises of a written exercise and a panel interview. Successful candidates will have a further one to one interview in accordance within Warner recommendations. Internal candidates will need to notify HR of their interest in the post and they will provide further information on the internal application process.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'apply now' button below to complete the application.

• We cannot accept CVs.
• When completing your application form, you need to address each point of the person specification and demonstrate how you meet it.
• Applications must be fully completed.
• If you are a current Coram Voice employee, you may submit a supporting statement only addressing the person specification requirements for the post.

Closing date: Monday 10th February 2025 at 12pm

Interview date: Week starting 17th February 2025

General consideration for applications:

• DBS checks: All posts are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring check.
• Training: All successful candidates are required to complete our compulsory training programme which includes training in Advocacy (Being a Voice) Safeguarding and Diversity
• Conflict of interest: the independence of the service is important to Coram Voice. Prospective applicants need to raise any other potential conflicts of interest when initially contacting Coram Voice about this post.

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from, Asian, African, Caribbean and other minority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care, those with neuro-diversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.