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 Northwest 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.

Home-Start Clackmannanshire is a long standing, dynamic charity, striving to ensure every young child (under 12) has the best possible start in life locally. Raising a family has never been easy; our trained volunteers and staff are there to support families through challenging times. In Scotland, Home-Starts have over 1,500 volunteers supporting over 3,500 families and 6,500 children each year through compassionate, confidential help to parents/carers when they need us most. The parents/carers we support are often overwhelmed and isolated. They may be struggling with mental health, illness, disability, multiple births, poverty, domestic abuse, separation and/or trauma. We provide a bespoke support package of 1:1 and group services for families, helping them to cope with the stresses and strains of daily life and encourage them to build the skills, confidence, and strength they need to nurture their children for years to come.

We are looking to welcome a new Family Support Group Worker to our team due to an exciting new partnership with Action for Children, to build a pre-5’s service locally for families. This is a fixed term contract, with potential for extension, funding dependent.

Purpose of the job

Home-Start Clackmannanshire and Action for Children are working in partnership, with the support of our local Child Wellbeing Partnership, to develop a communities based, group support system, providing a nurturing and educational environment for children and their parents/carers. This new service aims to enhance positive well-being, parent-child attachment, and support early childhood development, providing the foundations for children to flourish.

We are looking for an enthusiastic practitioner who is knowledgeable in child development and has experience working with children and their families in both group settings and on a one-to-one basis.

This role will work closely with our current Family Support Group Workers, supporting our aspiration to work in partnership locally to offer supportive and enriching environments for young families.

As a Family Support Group Worker, you will work closely with our team, and our partners Action for Children, to support the development of children and parents by creating fun and interesting environments/activities to enhance skills, promote emotional resilience, encourage positive behaviours and routines.

So why are we looking for a new Project Worker?

Our ambition is for every child in Scotland to be safe, loved and well, together with their family. Children 1st is committed to protecting children by preventing harm through abuse and neglect. We will promote their wellbeing by respecting, protecting, and fulfilling children’s human rights.

We have a long history of working with children and families and partners in the Scottish Borders. Children 1st along with our partners share a determination to act upon the recommendations from The Independent Care Review and deliver The Promise to children and young people. We are also determined that the full incorporation of the UNCRC means that children will have their rights respected in all areas of their lives and will have a real say in the way they are supported.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Project Worker to join a large, creative and vibrant team. Our Service delivers a number of diverse supports alongside children and families. Our activities include Family Group Decision Making alongside our Social Work Colleagues creating alternative plans to support children growing up where they are safe and loved, support for children and families to recover from trauma and harm and whole family wellbeing support.

The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in the delivery of the service, ensuring high quality relationships with children and families and working alongside our partners to evidence impact.

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 have an 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 1st

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.

Base

Your base will be shared between our office in Selkirk as well as venues within the local community. You will work on an outreach basis to connect with children and families in communities across Scottish Borders.

Further Information

This is a permanent, full-time post of 35 hours per week.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our team in Midlothian which is expanding as a result of successful new funding in the areas of mental health and kinship care. You will join an existing team working with families with experience of parental substance use, trauma, poverty and poor mental health, amongst other factors.

We work alongside children and their families, offering individual and whole family supports, peer led groups and connection through community partners. This is an exciting yet demanding role which will require you to get alongside children and their families where, when and how best suits them, offering the right support at the right time.

What kind of Children 1st 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 difficult conversations
• Calm and clear minded during times of challenge or distress
• Kind and compassionate
• Passionate about Childrens Rights

If you have a professional qualification in a relevant area such as Social Work, Health, Teaching or equivalent in Child Care/Social Care or related area, accredited counselling qualification, or other relevant qualification at SCQF level 9 or higher then we want to hear from you. In particular, we are seeking to further enhance our diversity from the perspective of ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender and disability.

Base

You will be based in our Dalkeith office and will work with families across Midlothian. There will be some flexibility to work at home when this suits the needs of families and/or the service .

Salary, Conditions, Pension

We will offer you a competitive salary, generous annual leave entitlement (40 days inclusive of 9 public holidays), flexible working opportunities and a contributory pension scheme.

Further Information

We have two posts available:

One fixed term 35 hour post funded initially for 12 months initially (with possibility of extension) and one fixed term 17.5 hour post funded initially until 31 March 2025 (with possibility of extension).

(if you are applying for the part time post, can you please note this on your supporting statement/CV)

hours to be worked flexibly across the week to meet the needs of families and the service. However, Thursdays are our ‘core day’ when essential service activities take place such as team meetings.