Advocate

Coram; Nottingham; Remote; GBP 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Matched pension contributions

25 days annual leave, increasing with

Extra three days' paid leave between 


Family-friendly policies

Employee wellbeing support

Supportive working environment

Learning, development and professional

Job summary

Coram Voice is seeking an Advocate to join our Cheshire East team, providing independent advocacy for children and young people in care and beyond. You will work with social workers, carers and services to ensure the child's voice is heard and respected.

You will use a range of advocacy approaches to help children understand their rights, express wishes and concerns, and participate in decisions, while safeguarding and independence are at the core of your practice.

Qualifications

• Experience in advocacy and working with children or young people.
• Ability to communicate effectively with professionals and families.
• Understanding of safeguarding and safeguarding standards.

Responsibilities

• Provide independent advocacy for children and young people.
• Collaborate with social workers, carers and services to ensure views are heard.
• Use diverse advocacy approaches to support rights and participation.
• Maintain accurate records and manage caseloads within policy guidance.
• Safeguard and confidentiality maintained throughout advocacy.

Skills

Advocacy experience

Child rights awareness

Education

IAP City & Guilds Level 3

IAQ City & Guilds Level 4 in Advocacy

Job description

Home-based, with regular travel required across the area

Location: Home-based with travel across Cheshire East and the wider North West service area.

About Coram:

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable 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 is a national independent children’s charity, established in 1975. We are one of the UK’s leading organisations working to ensure that children and young people are heard, their rights are respected and the systems responsible for supporting them are held to account.

We exist to enable and equip children and young people to have a meaningful voice in decisions about their lives. We provide independent advocacy that supports children and young people to understand their rights, express their wishes and feelings, participate in decisions and challenge decisions or practices where necessary.

Our vision is for a society in which children and young people are listened to, respected and actively involved in decisions that affect their lives, and where inequality and discrimination are challenged and eradicated.

Our Advocacy services:

Coram Voice provides independent advocacy directly to children and young people in a wide range of circumstances.

Our advocates work with children and young people who are in care, leaving care, receiving support from children's services, or otherwise experiencing difficulties in having their rights, wishes and feelings recognised.

Advocacy may involve supporting a child or young person to:

• understand their rights and entitlements;
• express their wishes, feelings and views;
• participate meaningfully in meetings and decision-making processes;
• understand information and decisions affecting them;
• challenge decisions or actions that they believe are unfair or do not reflect their wishes and feelings;
• make a complaint or raise concerns;
• access appropriate services and support;
• identify and understand their options;
• communicate directly with professionals, services or decision-makers; and
• have their voice heard when decisions are being made about their lives.

Our advocacy is child-led, independent, confidential and rights-based. The advocate's role is to support the child or young person to have as much control as possible over their advocacy and to ensure that their voice is heard, rather than to speak on their behalf or make decisions for them.

We work in accordance with recognised principles and standards of good advocacy practice, including the Advocacy Charter, the Advocacy Code of Practice, the National Standards for the Provision of Children's Advocacy Services and Coram Voice's quality and professional practice requirements.

About the Role

We are looking for an Advocate to join our Cheshire East team.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is passionate about children's rights and wants to make a meaningful difference to the lives of children and young people.

You may already have experience of advocacy and hold, or be working towards, an IAP City & Guilds Level 3 or IAQ City & Guilds Level 4 qualification in Advocacy. Alternatively, you may have transferable experience and be looking for an opportunity to develop your career in children's advocacy.

You will work directly with children and young people in, and on the edges of, care, providing independent advocacy in the community and across a range of settings.

You will support children and young people to have their voices heard and to participate meaningfully in decisions about their lives. This may include supporting them to understand their rights, express their wishes and feelings, understand their options, challenge decisions, raise concerns and make complaints.

The role will involve working alongside children and young people to identify what is important to them and to support them to communicate their views in a way that works for them.

You will use a range of advocacy approaches and communication methods, adapting your approach to the individual child or young person's circumstances, needs and preferences.

You will maintain the independence of the advocacy relationship and work constructively with social workers, carers and other services to ensure that the child's or young person's views are heard, considered and responded to.

You will manage your own caseload, maintain accurate records, contribute to effective case management and work in accordance with Coram Voice policies, procedures and quality standards.

Safeguarding is central to our work. You will be expected to recognise and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns and to ensure that children and young people are supported safely throughout the advocacy process.

Our advocacy is child-led, independent, confidential and rights-based. The advocate's role is to support children and young people to exercise choice and control and to have their own voice heard, rather than to make decisions on their behalf.

Our practice is informed by recognised standards and principles of effective advocacy, including the Advocacy Charter, Advocacy Code of Practice, National Standards for the Provision of Children's Advocacy Services.

What you will receive

We want to recognise and reward the valuable contribution our staff make to Coram Voice and offer an attractive benefits package.

This includes:

• matched pension contributions of up to 5% of salary;
• generous annual leave entitlement of up to 25 days, increasing with length of service;
• an additional three days' paid leave between Christmas and New Year;
• family-friendly policies;
• support for employee wellbeing;
• a supportive working environment; and
• opportunities for learning, development and professional growth.

Most importantly, you will have a genuine opportunity to make a difference to children and young people every day.

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 (Advocacy in Action), 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 neurodiversity, 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.