Who Cares? Scotland is Scotland’s only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Our mission is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect, and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland and we currently have over 3500 Care Experienced members.

At the heart of Who Cares? Scotland’s work are the rights of Care Experienced people, and the power of their voices to bring about positive change. We provide individual lifelong relationship-based independent advocacy and a broad range of imaginative participatory and engagement opportunities for Care Experienced people across Scotland. We work alongside Corporate Parents and communities to broaden understanding and create change. We work with policy makers, leaders, and elected representatives locally and nationally to shape law, policy, and practice, working together to build on the aspirations of The Promise and secure positive change.

This unique role offers the opportunity to listen to and work directly with children and young people with experience of care, in an individual relationship-based advocacy role, and within participation and group activity across our North East region.

The post-holder will be a key member of the Advocacy and Participation team, supporting young people from across the region to ensure their rights are upheld and their voices are heard. In this role you will have the opportunity to provide independent advocacy, children’s rights, and participation opportunities for children and young people who are looked after, Care Experienced or subject to formal processes and structures. The role will see you actively participating in child’s plan meetings, children’s hearings, and other formal processes, as well as assisting children and young people to prepare for them. In partnership with professionals, carers, and organisations, you will help to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people by keeping detailed records of the work you undertake, writing liaison reports, and monitoring statistics.

As a vital part of the work of Who Cares? Scotland, your role will include facilitating group opportunities for and with children and young people within the North East region (Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Dundee, Angus, Rossie). This includes providing engagement and participation opportunities throughout the Who Cares? Scotland local and national network, as well as meeting with care experienced children and young people to introduce the service in agreement with the local authority. Raising awareness of Who Cares? Scotland and its services with children, young people, professionals, and carers you will also be responsible for facilitating training amongst care corporate parents.

The right candidate for this post will be able to form positive relationships with children and young people and have good interpersonal skills. You will feel confident communicating with individuals and groups, both in writing and verbally, and be able to adapt to a wide range of contexts. Secure in making effective plans, as well as evidencing your work, you can prioritise and meet deadlines. You take enjoyment from working collaboratively with partners, believing in equal opportunities and inclusive working. Committed to children’s rights, you are someone who knows that all young people can make transformative change happen in their lives if given the opportunity. You can demonstrate knowledge of the current structure, developments, policy, and practice in relation to children and young people experiencing care in Scotland. You are also flexible, given the remit of the role, as some evening and weekend work will be necessary, along with a full driving licence and access to transport.

While we would welcome the knowledge gathered through relevant qualifications, we are just as interested in relevant work experience. We welcome and encourage applications from those with experience of care.

The successful candidate will be joining Who Cares? Scotland and working within the North East team at an exciting time, when the voices of those who are in or have experienced care are growing in power, individually and collectively - bringing with them insight, challenge, hope and change.

If this sounds like the role for you, we would love to hear from you.

About Aberlour Options Borders

At Aberlour Options Borders we provide a range of support services for young people up to the age of 18 years who have various disabilities. Our aim is to provide families with a short break from their caring role through the provision of high quality child-centred services which provide a positive experience for the young people we work with.

We have a strong reputation for supporting young people with high levels of complex needs, supporting them to grow, learn and maximise their potential. We believe that every child has the right to flourish. Our Young People’s Workers play a fundamental role in ensuring that the young people they work with have the best possible experience in working towards their objectives in line with their care plan. Whilst not without its challenges and demands, this is a highly rewarding role, where the work we do has a demonstrable impact on each young person's progress. Using a person-centred approach you will provide enabling support ensuring the highest level of physical, personal and emotional care to support children in their daily living and within the local community.

What we are looking for....

We have an opening for a Young People’s Worker on a permanent basis. Usual hours would be around 23 per week during term time for 42 weeks of the year and 35 hours per week for 10 weeks of the year (school holidays). Working an average of 25.30 hours per week. Hours are worked between 3pm and 10pm on weekdays (excluding Mon and Tues). Weekends open full time, hours worked between 12pm Friday and 5pm Sunday. Holiday weeks are full time and shifts can be around the clock. You will be part of a residential respite rota which will require you to work days, evenings, nights, weekends and public holidays. There will be a requirement to do sleepover shifts and these will be paid at £65 per sleepover.

Shift patterns vary. For 10 weeks of the year during school holidays, shifts are available around the clock. Standard shifts would be 8-4.15pm or 4-10pm. Sleepovers are also a part of this. For 42 weeks of the year, we work on a pattern of Wed-Sunday one week and Friday to Sunday the following week. Wednesday-Friday is afternoons and evenings. Standard weekend shifts are 8-4.15pm or 4-10pm. Sleepovers are also a part of this.

At Aberlour we want to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team.

A Day in the Life of a Young People’s Worker

Our day usually starts around 7.30am with the morning routine. We support our young people to get ready for their day ahead assisting with all aspects of personal hygiene. We then prepare breakfast and medications for each of our young people and organise the day’s activities. We plan mornings out, considering the health and safety requirements for each activity we undertake. After lunch we prepare an in-house activity. This also allows staff to complete daily paperwork such as weekend logs for our young people, updating care plans and review reports etc. In the evening we cook a healthy dinner considering our knowledge of our young peoples’ likes and dislikes and particularly if they have restricted diets.

"Aberlour Options provide a safe, fun and homely environment for respite for our son. He loves going to stay and asks daily when his next visit is" Parent

"Aberlour treat me like part of the family" Young Person

If you have an interest in working with young people we would like to hear from you. Ideally, candidates will have social care experience, an understanding of autism, complex needs and mental health and have the relevant qualifications or will be willing to work towards these.

What we offer...

As well as a supportive team and excellent training opportunities, we want all our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, an excellent employer pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts across various retailers.

Barnardo's Stronger Families service are offer an exciting opportunity to join an established team who deliver Attachment and Trauma Informed Practice models of support to families with children aged 0-13 yrs of age in the Fife area. 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. Our Stronger Families service has been in existence in it's current guise for the past 7 years and was previously the Intensive Family Support Service. 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. Due to the intensive nature of the work, your caseload will be smaller to enable the number of hours required per week and the time to build positive working relationships.

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 1st April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a key pillar of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to grow and develop in their career at Barnardo's as it will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues to progress through the pay band of their role.

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 progression 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

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. 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, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

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.

• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• 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

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is reflected in our values and our practice, and we have invested in this area of our work to ensure that we can deliver on our commitments to be an inclusive employer. EDI is a key enabler of our purpose as a charity and we want to ensure that the diversity of our teams is reflective of the communities we serve and that we continue to learn and develop our work with a focus on inclusion. We particularly encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic Communities, candidates who are LGBT+ and Disabled candidates.

Do you have relevant experience of working with children and young people with a disability and/or autism or relevant experience in a similar sector/work environment?

About Aberlour Options Fife - Residential Glenrothes

At Aberlour we listen to understand what our young people want and need within our local area. As such, our service in Glenrothes supports young people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live and thrive within the local community.

Our service is home to 3 young people, aged 14 plus. Our rota has been drafted to suit the needs of the young people. Our night shifts operate from 10pm to 8am. You will work a rolling rota consisting of 3 to 4 nights per contracted hours. More details can be discussed at interview.

What we are looking for....

As a Young People’s Worker, you will play a fundamental role in our young people’s lives to ensure that they get the best possible experience whilst working towards goals in their care plan. Using a person-centred approach, you will provide enabling support ensuring the highest level of physical and emotional care; supporting our young people in their daily living and within the local community.

If you have an interest in working with young people, we would like to hear from you. Ideally, candidates will have social care experience, an understanding of autism, complex needs and disability. You will hold, or be willing to work towards, a relevant professional qualification at SCQF level 7 or above (for example: SVQ 3 Social Services (Children and Young People) plus an HNC) together with relevant experience of working with children or young people. You must also be able to demonstrate awareness of the key elements of working with people affected by disability as well as an understanding of, and commitment to, young people’s rights.

At Aberlour we want to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team.

What we offer...

As well as a supportive team and excellent training opportunities, we want all our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, an excellent employer pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts across various retailers.