Fun opportunity to visit and befriend children and young people who are in foster care or a residential children's home.
Can you make a difference to a young person's life? We urgently require volunteers to befriend a child or young person living in care who has little or no contact with their birth family. We are looking for people of all ages (18+)who have around 3 hours per fortnight to space on an evening or weekend when you could take a young person out and become a significant adult in their lives. 2 visits a month can make such a difference in a young person's life and you will be able to build up a relationship with them while at the same time doing fun activities together. You will be allocated and introduced to a young person, ideally not too far from where you live. You will both then agree on the kid of activities you enjoy and want to do. That may be shopping, going out for a meal, going to the cinema, bowling, ice-skating - basically anywhere where is safe and you can have fun! This is an immensely rewarding opportunity for any person with time on their hands and who can relate well to young people who may have suffered some disadvantage in their lives.
We are looking for people who have big hearts, listening ears and enjoy being with children and young people. You need to be reliable and enthusiastic and have the time available to visit the child or young person on a fortnightly basis, most likely on a weekend or evening. Our volunteers aim to develop a long-term friendship with a young person and give them an opportunity access hobbies, interests and gain some independent skills. We prefer it if you can give a minimum of two years to the young person matched to you.
No qualifications are necessary, however full training will be given over two sessions.
Durham, Peterlee, Stanley, Tow Law
There will be ongoing support for the volunteer; all expenses are reimbursed, including activity, mileage and parking costs. Any person working or spending time with children will need to be willing to undertake a DBS check.
Action for Children recently have been awarded the Investors in Volunteers accreditation which is the UK quality standard for good practice in volunteer management.
There are a number of benefits that volunteers can access such as:
Access to the online training lounge.
Constructive Supervision
Discounts and Benefit portal
Additional Training courses
Access internal vacancies
Well-being workshops
Stephenson’s awards, this is a dedicated award for the most outstanding volunteer.
Action for Children Roads shows
Age is not an issue but as we work with young people age from 8 to 21 so we are looking for volunteers from 20+
