Help shape brighter futures for children and families across Scotland

At Children First, we believe every child should be safe, loved and able to enjoy a happy childhood. As Scotland's national children's charity, we work alongside children, families and communities to protect children from harm, support recovery from trauma and abuse and create lasting change.

We are looking for a compassionate, skilled and motivated Community Partnership & Participation Worker to join our team and help strengthen the support available to children and families across Scotland.

In this exciting role, you will build trusted relationships with communities, services and partner organisations, helping families access the support they need while ensuring children's and families' voices influence how services are developed and improved.

This is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference by connecting people, strengthening local networks and helping shape services that respond to what matters most to children and families.

What you'll do

Working as part of our Support Line service, you will:

• Develop strong partnerships with community organisations, schools, health services, local authorities and third sector partners.
• Improve access to support for families experiencing poverty, inequality, kinship care challenges or concerns about a child's safety.
• Increase awareness of Children First Support Line and the range of help available to families across Scotland.
• Ensure children, young people and families have meaningful opportunities to share their experiences and help shape service development.
• Support participation, engagement and co-production activities, including events, consultations and focus groups.
• Build local knowledge of community resources and identify gaps, barriers and opportunities for support.
• Gather learning and insights that help us improve services and influence positive change for children and families.

What we're looking for

• You'll bring experience of community engagement, partnership working or participation practice, along with a genuine commitment to improving outcomes for children and families.

You'll also have:

• Experience working with children, young people, families or communities.
• Strong relationship-building and partnership skills.
• Excellent communication and facilitation abilities.
• An understanding of poverty, inequality and the barriers families can face when seeking support.
• Knowledge of children's rights and participation approaches.
• Experience of trauma-informed, strengths-based and relationship-based practice.
• The ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and maintain accurate records.
• Confidence using Microsoft Office and digital communication tools.

Who you are

We're looking for someone who:

• Believes in the power of children's voices.
• Values inclusion, participation and co-production.
• Builds trust quickly and works collaboratively with others.
• Is passionate about reducing inequality and improving children's lives.
• Brings warmth, curiosity and compassion to their work.
• Shares our commitment to safeguarding and promoting children's rights.

Why join Children First?

At Children First, our values guide everything we do:

With Love

We put children first, listening with compassion and kindness and standing alongside families when they need support most.

With Purpose

We work together with families, communities and partners to create lasting change and better outcomes for children.

With Strength

We do whatever it takes to protect Scotland's children and champion their rights.

You'll join a supportive organisation that values learning, innovation and collaboration, where your work will directly contribute to helping children and families thrive.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and anti-racist organisation where everyone experiences a sense of belonging. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and lived experiences and particularly encourage applications from groups currently under-represented within our workforce.

Join us

If you're passionate about building stronger communities, amplifying children's voices and helping families access the support they need, we'd love to hear from you.

Together, with love, purpose and strength, we can help Scotland's children and families thrive.

The postholder will be expected to operate in line with our values which are: justice, equity, trust, collaboration and compassion.

Overview

All roles at OPFS contribute to our mission of working with and for single parent families, providing support that enables them to achieve their potential and help create lasting solutions to the poverty and barriers facing many single parents and their children. Our core values of justice, equity, trust, collaboration and compassion are at the heart of everything we do and underpin all aspects of our work.

About this role

The Project Lead will play a key role in supporting the Regional Coordinator / Service Manager with the day-to-day management, coordination and delivery of the OPFS local service.

The postholder will provide operational leadership and support to the service team, helping to ensure high-quality, person-centred and effective support is provided to single parents, children and families.

The Project Lead will support the delivery of the Whole Family Support Third Sector Delivery Fund, working alongside families to address the issues that matter most to them and contributing to improved outcomes for parents, children and families.

Working within the My Life and Me framework, they will support a strengths-based, trauma-informed and whole-family approach. They will help ensure families receive coordinated support based on their individual circumstances, strengths, priorities and aspirations.

The Project Lead will support staff practice, workforce development, quality assurance, performance monitoring and service improvement. They will work closely with colleagues and partners to develop effective pathways and ensure families can access the appropriate support from OPFS and other services.

The postholder will provide day-to-day supervision, guidance and support to staff and relevant colleagues as delegated and will deputise for the Regional Coordinator / Service Manager when required.

The role will contribute to the development of local whole-family support approaches and to the wider OPFS ambition that families experience a “no wrong door” approach, where they can access coordinated support without having to repeatedly tell their story.

Working within the My Life and Me framework, the postholder will provide operational leadership, support and supervision to staff, ensure high-quality service delivery and undertake quality assurance activities.

This is a great opportunity to join a national charity in a key finance role. You would be part of a small finance team and a supportive Central Services department. The joy of the role is that you will get to work with people from across the whole organisation and thus contribute to work aimed at making Scotland a better place for our babies, children, young people and their families.

In this role you will be responsible for the delivery of financial operations and the line management of the finance officer(s). You will need to be an experienced finance professional who has demonstrable hands-on experience in financial processing, is a proactive self-starter, has experience of line management and has strong working knowledge of financial systems.

If you have these skills and want to work in a values-led organisation with a nurturing environment, please take a look at the job description. This could be the job for you.

About Children in Scotland

Children in Scotland is a welcoming and dynamic charity that amplifies the voices, views and experiences of our members and children, families and professionals across Scotland. We achieve this through direct services, meaningful participation, policy work, inspiring communications and sector-leading events and learning opportunities.

We are a vibrant and inclusive community of dedicated individuals and organisations who use our skills and passion to bring evidence-based and fresh thinking together, with one shared aim of giving all children in Scotland an equal chance to flourish.

We are stronger together in driving lasting impact for Scotland’s children.

Diversity

Children in Scotland values the contribution of all our staff, whatever their background. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open processes, with appointment on merit. We welcome applications from everyone.

Further information

For an informal chat about the job, please contact Paula Watson, our current Strategic Finance Lead by email on pwatson@childreninscotland.org.uk or our CEO Judith Turbyne on jturbyne@childreninscotland.org.uk