Senior Advocate

We are looking for a Senior Advocate who will have day to day responsibility for the running and promotion of the advocacy service in Dorset.

You will manage a pool of advocates which involves recruitment, supporting them through induction and by conducting supervision and best practice meetings, ensuring the provisions of the service we offer to children and young people is to a high standard.

You will be responsible in managing the advocacy referrals and allocating these to the most appropriate advocate to meet the needs of the child or young person, whilst also carrying a small caseload of advocacy referrals yourself where you will provide independent and confidential advocacy to children and young people to empower them to express their wishes and feelings in decision that affect their lives to ensure that their voices are heard.

You will help drive the performance of the service by monitoring the referrals, activity and budgets, and using bespoke system, to prepare statistical and qualitative data reports for monitoring meetings to evidence service target achievements. This will also enable you to identify recurring themes and concerns which can be escalated.

This role also provides the opportunity to work in co-operation with other NYAS services and departments and well as acting the link between NYAS and the local authority.

• Proven experience in working with children and young people in a social care setting, particularly children in care


• Proven experience of supervising staff and /or volunteers


• Experience and understanding of child protection/vulnerable adult safeguarding procedures


• An understanding of the importance of listening to children and young people without bias or prejudice


• An ability to communicate effectively and to a high standard both orally and in writing to a wide range of people.
  
  NYAS operates robust safeguarding procedures to ensure the protection of the children, young people and adults at risk we work with. To comply with NYAS's Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check, references and a Digital Risk Assessment.


As an established leading rights-based charity, NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) is well positioned to ensure that children, young people, and adults across England and Wales are fully respected, represented, and supported in expressing their views and having their rights upheld.

We work with care-experienced children, young people, and adults who are often reliant on statutory services suffering the negative impact of the cuts in public expenditure. Our combination of social care and legal services places us in a unique position to ensure that they receive the services they need and that their voices are heard.

We are an equal opportunities employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment which means NYAS welcomes applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, or any other protected characteristic.

NYAS is proud to share that we are a Disability Confident Employer and we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies.

Work with us to help change young lives.