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 3000 Care Experienced members.

At the heart of Who Cares? Scotland’s work are the rights of Care Experienced children and young people, and the power of their voices to bring about positive change. We provide individual relationship-based independent advocacy and a broad range of imaginative participatory opportunity for Care Experienced young people across Scotland; we work alongside corporate parents and communities of all sorts to broaden understanding; we work with policy makers, leaders and elected representatives locally and nationally to shape law, policy and practice on the basis of all that can be learnt from the voices of those with experience of care - working together to build on the aspirations of The Promise and secure positive change.

The post holder will 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 West Central region. This unique role requires you to listen to what children and young people with experience of care say and support them to ensure their rights are upheld and their voices are heard in the processes of making decisions about their lives. You will also help facilitate a broad range of participatory and engagement opportunities and create the conditions for collective advocacy.

The right candidate for this post will be brilliant at forming positive relationships with children and young people. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, adaptable to a wide range of contexts. You will enjoy working collaboratively with partners. You will be committed to children’s rights, inclusive working, equal opportunities, and believe that all young people can make transformative change happen in their lives if given the opportunity.

The successful candidate will be joining Who Cares? Scotland and working within the West Central locality 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. Flexibility will be required given the remit of the role. Some evening and weekend work will be necessary, as will a full driving licence and access to transport.

If this sounds like the role for you, we would love to hear from you. For an informal conversation about this opportunity please contact Jamie McAnally, our Advocacy and Participation Manager for our West Central team on jmcanally@whocaresscotland.org.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.
• Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 687,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the role

The Dundee Youth Housing Service, in collaboration with the Dundee City Council, fulfills its statutory duty by supporting homeless young people aged 16 and above. The aim of the service is to engage with young people and families at the earliest opportunity. To be responsive, to prevent situations escalating, and take the pressure off the local authority front line services.

As the initial point of contact for any young person facing homelessness in the city, our service plays a crucial role. Within the strategic housing partnership, Action for Children stands as the sole organisation dedicated to preventing young individuals from becoming homeless. Our service operates 24/7.

Our primary focus is to provide temporary accommodation for young people who have been assessed as homeless. We extend our support to young individuals who are homeless, have care experience, or are seeking asylum.

How you’ll help to create brighter futures

Some key responsibilities for Children's Services Manager are;

• Leading, motivating and managing a range of services and support staff to deliver a quality service
• Championing top-tier safeguarding practices by overseeing procedures and advocating for the protection of children, families, and youth with unwavering commitment.
• Collaborating with teams in business development and fundraising to forge and enhance partnerships with current and prospective funders, gathering local insights, and crafting proposals or bids to maintain or expand our service reach.
• Leading the charge in managing transitions, including the initiation, expansion, downsizing, or restructuring of services and community projects.

Let’s talk about you

• A qualification relevant to the services within the remit of this post as well as successful management and delivery of commissioned services.
• Developing and maintaining effective networks, relationships, partnerships and contacts to improve service outcomes.
• Significant experience of managing and developing operational services for children, young people and their families.
• Improving service provision through the workforce, addressing challenges within the management of people and service provision (in particular improving employee performance).
• Demonstrable financial and commercial acumen and awareness through management of budgets, costing and analytics.

About the service...

Aberlour Early Years Family Support will provide gender-responsive, trauma- informed, flexible & accessible intensive support to meet the needs of pregnant women and families with children under 3. Support will be provided in families homes and communities at times that suit them (before school or nursery/evenings/weekends) and for as long as is needed, to prevent challenges escalating. We also aim to support local professional stakeholders and communities to coproduce solutions.

Our whole-family approach means we can create personalised support for both the children and their parents.

What we are looking for....

We are looking to recruit a dynamic and creative individual to lead and manage a small team and help develop the service to deliver support which is playful, warm, accepting, curious, tenacious, and empathetic.

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. To have a look at our values to understand more about what we are looking for from our employees please go to our website.

You will be able to balance operational and administrative requirements while also being available to join your team as the lead practitioner on a flexible basis. This will include working directly with the children and families at weekends, evenings and on public holidays in a planned way. There will be an opportunity within this post to work flexibly between the office and home.

Work is carried out individually or in groups using a variety of settings including the service base, family homes, schools and community venues. You will be involved in planning, designing and delivering appropriate work, assessing and evaluating the services, maintaining accurate records and compiling reports.

If you would like more information or wish to discuss this post further, please contact Grant Cowper, Service Manager, on 07785 451479.

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. Find out more about our Employee Benefits and our commitment to Equality and Diversity on our website.

New service, new role!

This is an exciting opportunity to become part of a new service development. Join us in supporting young people aged 16-26 years during the transition of leaving care and moving into temporary accommodation. You will help support young people to manage their emotions and feelings, help with practical interventions, and assist them to prepare for permanent tenancy.

Aberlour is featured in the top 100 Sunday Times big organisations Best Places to Work 2024.

About Aberlour’s New East Renfrewshire Emergency & Temporary Accommodation Support Service

We will develop positive relationships with young people based on meaningful partnership, to support them in developing interactive and practical skills, confidence and self-esteem, solve problems, resolve conflicts, develop informed choices and relate better to their peers, families and authority figures. We will give support to enable young people to access and sustain accommodation, develop life skills and support networks enabling them to live more independently within their community

What we are looking for....

We are looking for a dynamic, energised individual who can work autonomously and who is confident and excited to develop a new team alongside the Service Manager.

You will be required to balance the needs of the young people alongside administrative requirements and support of staff.

You are someone who will have strong communication and teamwork skills, understand the necessity of best practice and thrive on helping young people overcome the challenges presented by everyday modern life.

The hours for this role are 30 hours per week, working 4 days per week. Shift patterns will take the form of: 10am-6pm or 1pm-9pm, Monday-Friday and 10am-6pm at weekends. There will be an expectation that you will work approximately 1 weekend in every 3 and a variety of day shifts/back shifts during the week. The base for this post will be Eastwood Health and Care Centre.

This post is currently fixed term for 2 years with the hope of further extension.

What we offer:

• A supportive and welcoming team
• Competitive employment package with generous annual leave
• A comprehensive induction package and ongoing training

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