33 Training officer volunteer volunteer roles in Bristol

Volunteer Role: Adopter Voice – Network Champion 

Location: Our Adopter Voice Programme is with the Regional Adoption Agency Adoption Counts. Interested candidates must be adopters who live with the Adoption Counts regional areas of Manchester, Stockport, Trafford, Salford, East Cheshire. 

Frequency: Flexible, to suit the candidate

Reporting to: Engagement Officer

Adoption UK is the leading charity providing support, community and advocacy for adopted people and those parenting children who cannot live with their birth parents. We connect people, provide support and training and campaign for improvements to adoption policy and practice. With a national membership of over 6,000 Adoption UK is the largest voice representing the adoption community in the U.K.

Our vision (our ultimate ambition): Our vision is a society in which every child who cannot live with their birth family can thrive in childhood and has an equal chance of a bright future as an adult. 

Our purpose (our role in achieving that ambition): To secure the right support at the right time for children who cannot live with their birth families, from childhood into adulthood. Our focus is adoption; we also support kinship care and early permanence.

Core tasks:

The network champion is a volunteer for Adoption UK who works on our Adopter Voice work with Regional Adoption Agencies. Adopter Voice is partnership between Adoption UK and Regional Adoption Agencies created to listen to adoptive families and learn from their lived experiences of adoption. It gathers adopters’ views on the support and services available. By bringing together the experiences of adoptive families, Adopter Voice creates a stronger collective voice—one that can meaningfully inform policy and practice and contribute to better outcomes for adopted children and their families.

Your role would be to facilitate, manage, and host events/ support groups in your area for adopters/families. As a champion you will gather views from your network of adopters and share their adopter voice to help the Regional Adoption Agency with understanding the needs of families within the area. 

· Coordinate and host events/support groups face to face or virtually for adoptive families within the RAA region.

· Develop and hold a network for adopters to share their adopter voice.

· Host meet ups to establish adopter networks / or represent Adopter Voice on RAA agreed operational & management board meetings

· Connect adopters & gather wider views of those who experience the adoption system on specific issues through local networks.

· Attend quarterly Adopter Advisory Board meetings (AAB) with champions / RAA.

· The AAB will be asked to commission views from their networks, circulate ideas, questions, and information, and to provide the AAB with specific feedback.

· Share knowledge and experiences with networks for connection and support.

Who we are looking for:

You will require the motivation and confidence to host virtual meet-ups and/or source opportunities within your region for face-to-face meet-ups/events, as well as representing AUK.

· Personal experience of adoption as an adoptive parent.

· A good communicator, someone with the passion to connect and support others.

· Good organisational skills, time keeping and reliability.

· You will need access to your own computer and broadband/data or/and the ability to travel.

· Confident in and willing to act as the face of AUK and Adopter Voice in your local community.

· Non-judgmental, patient, and friendly. Committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of the role.

· An understanding of the importance of adhering to policies and processes. Including confidentiality, data protection principles and maintaining boundaries

· A commitment to completing any training (including e-learning) required for the role.

Additional information

We strive to ensure AUK is welcoming, remains relevant and is fully accessible to everyone that we help and support. We are particularly welcoming of volunteers from diverse and other marginalised communities, as this helps us ensure the best experience for those that we are here to help. 

To help keep our staff and volunteers, and to ensure our community is safe and legal, we expect all volunteers to always comply with AUK policies including health and safety, data protection and code of conduct.

What’sin it for you  

• Meet new people and bepart of supportingadoptivefamilies to thrive. 

• Free membership to Adoption UK and access to relevant training and development opportunities. 

• Use and develop your communication, organisational and people skills 

• Receive training and the support you need to carry out the role.

• Receive additional training which might also help your own family. 

Safeguarding role requirements: DBS, right to work and references. 

*(These checks and all required costs will be covered by Adoption UK and the application process completed alongside you when you are onboarded as a volunteer) 

You will receive mandatory safeguarding training.