Children & Young Persons Advocate in Maidstone

Maidstone Full-Time On-site

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Advocates support children and young people receiving statutory and non-statutory support from social services, promoting young people’s rights and entitlements, and assisting them to be able to make informed choices about what happens in their lives.

Jon Purpose:

An Advocate will play a vital role in our Advocacy Programmes that supports young people to:

Voice their concerns about the care and support they receive
Understand their rights and entitlements and responsibilities
Make informed choices about what happens in their lives

As an Advocate you will deliver direct advocacy support to a range of young people aged 0-24 across Kent and Medway and occasionally those living out of area, in a range of settings which include the community, residential accommodation, schools, youth detention centres and secure settings. Under supervision of the Advocacy Manager, you will manage your own case load of young people requiring advocacy support, as well as support the team with cover as required across the service. You will provide an excellent standard of advocacy consistently to all service users, and apply your knowledge of young people’s rights and entitlements alongside your ability to maintain effective working relationships with professionals to resolve issues to a satisfactory outcome for young people. The role is front facing and requires excellent communication, written and organisation skills as well as a coherent understanding of the principles of advocacy and issues affecting young people receiving support from social services.

Main Responsibilities:

To clarify the concerns and wishes of the young person, enabling them to understand how they can make their views heard and what choices they have regarding decisions being made about them
To apply knowledge of relevant national and local legislation and policies relating to children in care and care leavers to ensure the young person understands their rights, entitlements and responsibilities
To enable the young person to communicate their views and wishes and to seek a satisfactory resolution to any issues raised in a timely manner
To make an agreement with the young person about the help they want and agreeing the way in which the advocacy will be provided within the boundaries of the advocacy programme
To maintain a positive working relationship with staff, carers and other professionals to facilitate the resolution of any issues raised by the young people
To attend social care meetings with the young person when requested
To write articulate communications including reports, letters and emails on behalf of the young person as required
To assist the young person to make a complaint if necessary, both at the informal and formal stages (Stages 1, 2 and 3) of the complaints procedure and access legal advice where required
To maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all advocacy cases, using prescribed formats and in full compliance with the Young Lives Foundation’s Data Protection Policy
To actively keep abreast of developments in national and local policy affecting looked after children, children’s rights and leaving care to provide up to date and informed advocacy support
To contribute, as required, to the design, content and administration of websites; the production of publications; and the arrangement of events
To support the promotion of the service, as required, to service users, professionals and relevant agencies
To support the production of reports including both quantitative and qualitative data on the performance and outcomes of the service in line with agreed performance indicators

General Requirements:

To have flexible availability to meet the needs of service users during service operating hours
To work within agreed timescales
To work within agreed quality frameworks and quality standards
To take part in supervision and appraisal and to meet on other occasions, as required, with the manager
To comply with the YLF Code of Conduct and ensure Safeguarding Policy and Procedures are followed at all times
To attend staff meetings, as required To keep accurate records of any expenditure incurred and to ensure that such expenditure is within agreed limits and has been duly authorised
To maintain records as may be required for the purposes of monitoring, evaluation and review
To develop and maintain effective liaison with referral sources and with other professionals
To provide cover or additional support for colleagues, as required
To uphold the values and adhere to the policies and procedures of the Young Lives Foundation
To undertake such other duties as may, from time to time, be reasonably required

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