Advocacy & Participation Worker – West Central

Who Cares? Scotland is Scotland’s only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Our mission is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect, and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland and we currently have over 3000 Care Experienced members.   

At the heart of Who Cares? Scotland’s work are the rights of Care Experienced children and young people, and the power of their voices to bring about positive change. We provide individual relationship-based independent advocacy and a broad range of imaginative participatory opportunity for Care Experienced young people across Scotland; we work alongside corporate parents and communities of all sorts to broaden understanding; we work with policy makers, leaders and elected representatives locally and nationally to shape law, policy and practice on the basis of all that can be learnt from the voices of those with experience of care – working together to build on the aspirations of The Promise and secure positive change.    

The post holder will work directly with children and young people with experience of care, in an individual relationship-based advocacy role, and within participation and group activity across our Northwest region. This unique role requires you to listen to what children and young people with experience of care say and support them to ensure their rights are upheld and their voices are heard in the processes of making decisions about their lives.  You will also help facilitate a broad range of participatory and engagement opportunities and create the conditions for collective advocacy.  

The right candidate for this post will be brilliant at forming positive relationships with children and young people. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, adaptable to a wide range of contexts.  You will enjoy working collaboratively with partners.  You will be committed to children’s rights, inclusive working, equal opportunities, and believe that all young people can make transformative change happen in their lives if given the opportunity.   

The successful candidate will be joining Who Cares? Scotland and working within the West Central locality team at an exciting time, when the voices of those who are in or have experienced care are growing in power, individually and collectively – bringing with them insight, challenge, hope and change. Flexibility will be required given the remit of the role. Some evening and weekend work will be necessary, as will a full driving licence and access to transport. 

If this sounds like the role for you, we would love to hear from you. For an informal conversation about this opportunity please contact Jamie McAnally, our Advocacy and Participation Manager for our West Central team on jmcanally@whocaresscotland.org. 

We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of care who meet the criteria for the post.