Independent visitor role description

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Accountable to the Independent Visitor Manager and based within Wiltshire Children’s Rights Service, Independent Visitors are volunteers who visit, advise and befriend identified children/young people within the looked after system:

Your role will be:

• To visit a child/young person on a regular basis as agreed by the child/young person and their carers
• To give sound adult advice
• To befriend and take an interest in the child/young person, ensuring at all times the young person’s personal safety and welfare.
• To provide consistency and continuity to young people by maintaining regular and on-going contact throughout their time within the care system
• To be aware of and seek to promote any needs the child/young person may have which relates to their ethnicity, religion, language, disability or other specific areas.
• To respect confidentiality, except where the child/young person may be at risk of significant harm.
• To maintain a child-centred and independent ‘lay’ perspective
• To contribute towards the child/young person’s social, emotional and educational development
• To ensure the child/young person is invited to talk about problems
• To help the child/young person make informed choices and help them express their views
• To check that the child/young person understands the reasons why he or she is in care
• To be interested in future plans for the child/young person and check that the child/young person understands the plans for him or herself
• To maintain contact with the Scheme Manager and return monthly mileage/subsistence claims
• To work within guidelines for Wiltshire Independent Visitor Service
• To be responsible for your own Health and Safety and that of anybody else who may be affected by your acts and omissions
• To report to the Scheme Manager any complaints, allegations or police involvement relating to any area of your life.

Wiltshire Independent Visitor Scheme will provide:

• Initial training and further information or training opportunities as available
• Ongoing support and supervision, both in a group and individual setting
• Agreed travelling costs and out of pocket expenses

Last updated: 24 March 2009