Advocate

Job Title: Advocate Service: Coram Voice Contract Type: Permanent Hours: 21 hours per week Salary : £14,834 per annum (FTE £24,724) 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