Volunteer Support Worker At Refugee Youth Service

Location: Berkshire (Reading and Slough)

Duration: Minimum 3 months

Hours: Minimum 4 hours per week

Reports to: Welfare Officer

Start date: April 2023

About the Organisation

Refugee Youth Service (RYS) was founded in 2016, to provide a safe space for unaccompanied children living in the informal settlement known as ‘The Jungle’, in Calais, France. Since then RYS has delivered projects in Italy, Greece and the UK.

RYS supports unaccompanied children and young people to restart and rebuild their lives where they are, or safely and legally reach an alternative destination that is in their better interests. Our work aims to resume childhoods, bring an end to perilous journeys, and foster a smooth transition to adulthood. This is achieved through a range of activities which take place within safe spaces or as part of regular community outreach. A holistic approach aims to ensure that the unique needs of unaccompanied children and youth on the move are met comprehensively.

In France, RYS improved the safety and well-being of thousands of displaced children and young people who had no access to their most fundamental rights. In Greece, RYS founded *Velos Youth (*a locally registered NGO), with whom it continues to partner to deliver services to support unaccompanied young people to access their rights and integrate. In the UK, RYS currently indirectly supports unaccompanied children by providing capacity-building training to the professionals and communities that work with them. The training, titled ‘Journey with an Unaccompanied Child’ increases the participants’ understanding of the common experiences of children on their journeys, and how this impacts their support needs once in the UK.

As RYS enters its eighth year of operations, it continues to seek new opportunities to support children and young people on the move. With extensive experience and expertise on their journeys, RYS is now focused on supporting unaccompanied children in the UK directly, specifically those who are being incorrectly treated as adults, and therefore denied their rights as children.

About the Position

RYS is looking for volunteers with key skills and experience in a range of specialist areas of interest, including but not limited to:

• Child Protection & Safeguarding
• Youth work
• Social care
• Education
• Art Therapy

Volunteer Support Workers will provide a lifeline to age-disputed unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, currently residing in accommodations intended only for adults. The areas of expertise brought by new volunteers will be used to enhance the weekly programme of activities provided by RYS to these children.

RYS is seeking volunteers who can offer their time at least one afternoon per week, for a minimum period of three months. RYS will provide a compulsory and thorough induction process to ensure that the volunteers are confident and fully equipped to deliver the work. The induction process will start on the 11th of April and will include safeguarding training and our capacity-building training “Journey with an Unaccompanied Child”.

About the project

In 2021, there was an increase of 195% of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children being unlawfully assessed as adults upon arrival in the UK. From January to March 2022 only, statistics show that two-thirds of 211 people that had been sent to adult accommodations were indeed children. Many reported having suicidal thoughts as a result of the unstable and dangerous conditions in these centres. As a result, hundreds of unaccompanied children are wrongly accommodated in hotels intended for adults, which lack the basic care necessary to ensure that their rights are protected and safeguarded. This also heightens the risks of potential abuse, exploitation, and mental and physical harm.

The project aims to help age disputed asylum-seeking children to leave adult hotel accommodation and enter the appropriate child protection systems. The project will provide immediate emotional support and respite, and referrals to statutory services or pro-bono lawyers who can make this happen. Through our recreational activity programme, RYS will also focus on providing immediate emotional support via the building of relationships with children, monitoring their well-being and being able to raise the alarm when mental health deteriorates.

Key Areas of Accountability

• Being a positive role model with a clear understanding of safeguarding and working practices when working with unaccompanied children
• Delivering activities to children from a range of backgrounds, aged between 13 and 17
• Working in unison with all team members with a child-centred approach
• Communicating with the rest of the youth team to ensure information surrounding a child is shared efficiently and sensitively
• Complying with all RYS’ policies and procedures, including the RYS Code of Conduct, Safeguarding Policy and Data Protection Policy and Procedures

Relevant skills and experience

Essential

• Experience working with children and/or young people
• Ability to engage with children/adolescents from different cultural backgrounds
• Good understanding of equal opportunities, cultural diversity and gender and sexuality issues, and a commitment to the human rights of all people, irrespective of immigration status
• Preparedness to work with disadvantaged children who have likely experienced trauma on their journey to the UK
• High motivation and commitment to the role and excellent time-keeping skills
• Ability to work in teams and take initiative
• Adaptability to changing needs and environments
• An enhanced DBS check (this can be completed by RYS free of charge)

Desirable

• Experience working with children and young people who have been displaced and are unaccompanied
• Lived experience of the issues faced by unaccompanied children
• A background in social work, teaching, psychology or any other relevant field
• Experience working for or alongside NGOs
• A driver’s licence and willingness to drive as part of the role (using a company vehicle)
• Good knowledge of children’s/adolescent’s rights and related matters
• Ability to converse in any of the languages spoken by children supported: Tigrinya, Amharic, Oromo, Pashto, Dari/Farsi, Arabic