Female Residential Cover Volunteer

About this role

Role Summary
Separated young people seeking asylum are at risk from a variety of factors which we aim to address by using a holistic support approach. At Baca, we support our young people to achieve an increase in personal safety, social engagement and engagement with education.
We also support them to improve their physical and emotional wellbeing. We believe that one key way to achieve these changes is through an adult living in the home with our young people as a Residential Volunteer.
Naturally, our Residential Volunteers go away for weekends and holidays, and therefore we have a pool of Residential Cover Volunteers who stay at the house whilst the Residential Volunteer is away. The main role of the Residential Cover Volunteer is to be an adult present in the house prior to curfew, to ensure the young people are home and safe. We have a member of staff on-call 24/7 for any safeguarding concerns and/or emergencies. Therefore, the role of the Residential Cover Volunteer is to communicate as required and to then sleep at the house overnight.

Salary:
This is a volunteer role; however, we will reimburse you up to £10 a night for any food expenses you accrued from staying at one of our houses.

Time commitment:
There is no time commitment for Residential Cover Volunteers. All Residential Cover Volunteers will be given the dates of holidays when they are booked by our Residential Volunteers, and then the role entitles you to let the Volunteer and Intern Coordinator know as many or few nights can be covered, subject to each person’s availability.

Key activities:

• Communicate with the On Call team letting them know when you arrive and leave.
• Chat, eat with, watch a movie or play a game with the young people in the house
• Let On Call know if anyone has missed curfew.

Characteristics: 

Our Residential Cover Volunteers must be able to commit to and actively promote the principles and
practices of Baca. The Residential Cover Volunteers must be fully sympathetic to the purpose of Baca and the needs and circumstances of the young people we support. Without these characteristics it will be very difficult for any person to provide the required oversight and care.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Will I receive any training?
Yes, we will provide you with safeguarding training and a full staff induction. This will include information about Baca, our purpose and objectives; an understanding of the House Rules to be observed by the young people; more information about what the Residential Cover Volunteer role entails; what to do in an emergency and what support is available to you, and introduction to the Baca team. In addition, we will introduce you to our existing Residential Cover Volunteers so that you will be able to ask them about their experiences and build a healthy rapport within the team.

Who are the young people that Baca support?
Baca provides housing, care and support to unaccompanied asylum seeker children who are between the ages of 16-18 years. The young people come from anywhere in the world and will typically speak very little English on arrival to the UK.

When you can volunteer

Requirements

• References needed
• Willing to take a DBS Check

Upon successful completion of the application form found here: https://www.bacacharity.org.uk/get-involved/work-for-us, we will carry out a DBS on your behalf and we will need two references.

Location

Location Loughborough, UK