Volunteer Family Contact Assistant – (H361)

Volunteer may lead to paid position –

Would you like a career in social care?

Would you like direct experience working with children and their families ?

Why not Join Barking and Dagenham Children Care and Support and become a ‘Family Contact Support’

About the Role

If you are looking for a career in social care, this role will be ideal for you. Being a ‘Family Contact Assistant’ will enable you to gain experience working directly with a contact worker in ‘supervised contacts’.

What is supervised contact

Supervised contact promotes and sustain the child’s relationship with their family and to provide high quality, positive time for them to connect and interact.

Children you will be supporting.

You will be assisting in facilitating children in care having quality time with their parents, siblings, and extended families. You will be working with a wide range of children from new-born to 18 who are looked after by the local authority. Some of these children will have experienced a difficult or traumatic period in their lives and can exhibit distress and challenging behaviours.

Adults you will be involved with

Adults attending family contact are likely to be feeling distress and anxious about their children not living with them and you will need to use warmth and empathy to engage with them. Alongside assertiveness and the ability to put in boundaries.

Who can apply

All volunteers are welcomed, if you are over 18 years old and are willing to make a difference in the life of a child.

We need family contact supports to:

Ø  Support transportation – collecting and returning a child for a contact

Ø  Work alongside staff in supervising a contact

Ø  Supervise low risk contacts

Ø  Be responsible for always safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

You are expected to :

Ø  Be non-judgemental

Ø  Engage with children and adults

Ø  Have a child centred approach

Ø  Be observant

Ø  Be able to write reports/assessments.

Ø  Be reliable and consistent.

Ø  Have respect for different ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds.

Ø  1.5 to 3 hours per week (which may include early evenings & weekends) for a minimum one years.

Ø  Have access to computer (or similar device) and the internet

Volunteers will learn how to:

Ø  Engage with children/young people and their families.

Ø  Gain knowledge & experiencing in supervised contact .

Ø  Observation skills

Ø  Report writing

Ø  Multi agency working

Ø  Child protection processes and law

Ø  Challenge effectively and de-escalation skills

Benefits of the role:

You will have the opportunity to learn and develop various skills. Benefits also include, working directly with a contact worker & also supervising a contacts. We will provide training and additional mandatory training via council’s i-learning portal.

Travel expenses:

Travel expenses will be reimbursed.