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Coram Voice exists to enable and equip children and young people to hold the system to account, to challenge and support it to do its job properly and to uphold the rights of children and young people ...
Special Needs Befriender for children & young people: Wymondham / Dereham
Scan me or visit www.getinvolvednorfolk.org.uk/o/Coram-Careers/opportunities/Special-Needs-Befriender-for-children--young-people-Wymondham--Dereham/85089 to join
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Summary
We're looking for fun and committed volunteers to be matched 1-2-1 with a child or young person with special needs [learning disability and developmental delay]Detailed description
Looking for a fun volunteering opportunity that fits around other commitments? Want to help some of our most vulnerable children and inspire them towards brighter things? Please consider becoming an Independent Visitor, a volunteer befriender who visits a child monthly.
We currently have an urgent need for volunteers with experience of supporting people with additional needs, including a variety of learning disabilities and developmental delay, including:
- autistic spectrum disorder
- complex trauma & attachment difficulties
Many children who grow up in the care system face a chaotic and challenging time. Their Social Workers may change, foster care placements can break down and they can be moved from school to school. This would be difficult for any child to handle, but for children who have already been seriously failed and harmed by adults, it creates a downward spiral which progressively erodes their trust in adults, their confidence in the world around them - and their future life chances. Add special needs into the mix, and these young people really do need an extra helping hand.
Children in care today are still more likely to be disadvantaged than those who grow up in stable family units and generally speaking have poorer outcomes across education and health. They can sadly be very vulnerable to exploitation.
Studies have shown that having just one consistent, trustworthy, supportive adult in their life can change that trajectory completely. Someone the child can look up to, rely on, depend on and turn to for advice, for comfort, and even to share a joke or celebrate an achievement. Someone who knows them well, and remains in their life unflinchingly through good times and bad. For some young people, that single, stable presence in their life is a volunteer Independent Visitor.
Could it be you? Do you like having fun? Would you be able to commit long-term: like a godparent? If so, please consider becoming an Independent Visitor. You might transform someone's life chances - one outing at a time!
The Independent Visitor scheme is nationwide. Every child in care is legally entitled to an IV. Sadly, in practice, less than 3% of children in care have one. More volunteers are urgently needed in Norfolk for this truly special chance to change a child's life for the better. All volunteers receive regular training and development / support, as well as out for pocket expenses paid for activities and travel.