First Step is a community-based organisation working directly with families and young children in the early years. We support parents to build confidence, strengthen relationships and create a nurturing environment for their children. Our services include early learning and childcare, family learning and wellbeing activities, dedicated family support and outreach, and a range of opportunities for volunteering and community involvement.

We are seeking a motivated, self-starting Fundraising Officer, who will be central to the growth and sustainability of First Step’s work. You will lead on securing funding and developing new projects that respond to the needs of families with young children.

With excellent communication skills, you will work closely with the Project Manager and the Strategic Board to shape and deliver innovative, community led initiatives that make a real difference to the lives of children and their families. This includes identifying funding opportunities, writing compelling bids and building strong relationships with funders and partners.

Using your creativity, you will also be responsible for raising awareness of First Step’s services through events, presentations, marketing materials, and managing social media and website content. We’re looking for a versatile individual who communicates effectively at all levels, writes clearly, collaborates well with others, and can work independently when needed.

In addition to a highly satisfying role, we offer a range of staff benefits including:

• Enhanced annual leave
• Contributory pension scheme
• Enhanced sick pay
• Learning and development opportunities

A fantastic opportunity to come and join the Children First team

Children First’s ambition is for every child in Scotland to be safe, loved and well with their family. As a charity we offer emotional, practical, and financial support to help families to put children first and campaign to uphold the rights of every child.

Family Group Decision Making is working with family groups in a strengths-based way to support them to create Family Plans, keeping children safe and at home within their family networks.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our team as a Family Group Decision Making coordinator. We have funding for a 12-month fixed term post to work alongside the Whole Family Wellbeing Team within Scottish Borders Council supporting families at an earlier stage of intervention.

We’d love to hear from anyone interested in Family Group Decision Making, or strengths-based approaches to working with families, and would like to extend their skill set.

What kind of people are we looking for?

• have experience of keeping children safe in their own families
• are fiercely passionate about children’s rights
• thinks it’s a privilege to work with and on behalf of children and families and,
• are kind and will bring their whole selves to the job: heart and mind

What kind of team member will you be?

Knowing our ambition for children, you will be someone who is:

• resilient, skilled and knowledgeable who wants to transform children’s lives
• determined to support children to stay safely with their own family
• big hearted and courageous
• able to build strong relationships and to manage the tricky conversations
• is compassionate and understanding of trauma
• a cool head and clear minded at times of pressure
• inspiring colleagues and teams to be even better
• an amazing ambassador for children and Children First
• Above all else, the most important thing to us is that you are someone who will do the right thing for children and their families at every turn.

At Children First, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that reflects communities across Scotland. Guided by our values, With Love, With Purpose, With Strength, we strive to create a culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported to thrive. We actively work to remove barriers to inclusion and promote equity in all aspects of our work. We warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, especially those from marginalised communities, and are dedicated to ensuring a fair and supportive recruitment process.

Base

You will be based in Selkirk with travel across the Scottish Borders.

Salary, Conditions, Pension

We will offer you a competitive salary, generous annual leave entitlement (40 days inclusive of 9 public holidays). ​Additional benefits include cash back health plan, cycle to work scheme, and option to join a ​Credit Union.

Are you passionate about working with children, young people and families?

Barnardo's Stronger Families service is offering an exciting opportunity to join an established team who deliver Attachment and Trauma Informed Practice models of support to families. You will be required to deliver direct services to families who have complex needs and who are at risk of family breakdown. You will have experience of working with children and families and a working knowledge of attachment theories in practice.

Barnardo's has had a presence in Fife for over 20 years, working with children and families has been a consistent feature of our services in Fife, with our Stronger Families services being in existence for several years. Families must be referred to this service by a social worker, live in the Fife area, have children aged between 0-13 yrs old and are typically on the verge of family breakdown.

You will be required to work intensively with the family and partner agencies to ensure that, where possible, relationships within the home improve and children can safely remain at home.

We work with a flexible, whole family approach to support and so alongside formal 12-week reviews, support is assessed on a needs-based basis and therefore, frequency and intensity of support can vary out with these reviews. This also includes supporting families at fracture points – morning routine, evening routine and weekend support – where appropriate.

You will be required to design and deliver direct services to families who have a range of complex needs. Experience of working with children and families and a working knowledge of attachment theories and Trauma Informed Practice would be extremely desirable as would a knowledge of The Promise and it's implications for service delivery. This is an exciting opportunity to join an established, dynamic and friendly, team where you will have the opportunity to expand and share your skills and experience within a supportive environment.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.