Visiting Advocate - Midlands

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 to actively participate in shaping their own lives.

Coram Voice provides regular visiting advocacy services to young people in a range of residential settings. Visiting Advocacy supports and empowers young people to have a say in the decisions made about their lives and their experience of living within a secure environment.  Advocates aim to empower and inform young people to enable them to understand their rights, and make informed choices in decisions affecting their lives.

Coram Voice wish to appoint an advocate to provide weekly Visiting Advocacy services at a small number of children’s homes and mental health units in Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and potentially Stoke on Trent and Chester when required.  It would be beneficial for the Visiting Advocate to have previous knowledge and experience of working with children with complex needs and mental health issues. They would be delivering instructed, partly instructed and non-instructed advocacy.

The issues raised by young people are varied and have included a range of issues regarding: quality of care, care planning, move on placement decisions, making complaints and requests for support and representation at meetings and reviews. 

We are looking for candidates with a broad range of experience and backgrounds, evidence of an ability to effectively communicate with young people, a commitment to children’s rights and the ability to advocate constructively. We are looking for advocates with experience of working with children and young people, ideally in a mental health setting or residential setting.

Candidates should have the ability to remain non-judgmental when delivering a service to young people and ensure that Coram Voice values are translated into direct service delivery.

Coram Voice is looking for a wide variety of people to take on our roles, however we would particularly welcome applications from care leavers or individuals with experience of being ‘looked after’ by the state. We are also actively encouraging applicants from Asian, African and Caribbean backgrounds to join our staff and freelance pool. We recognise we are a predominantly white workforce and are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from diverse communities in order to improve the services to the children and young people we help.

Closing date for receipt of applications: Tuesday 18th April at 9am

Interviews: Tueasday 25th April 2017 (Walsall)

Warner Interview: TBC