Family Support - Family Befriender (Supporting Children & Families across Newport)

Barnardo’s is committed to providing ‘Better Outcomes for More Children’. Our children’s services volunteers help the charity to deliver essential services in local communities, providing support to over 300,000 children, young people and their families. This role provides a great opportunity to join our fantastic children’s services and help make a real difference.

Befriender Volunteers work across a range of services, such as children’s centres, parenting services and Child Sexual Exploitation services, supporting children and their families through challenging times in their lives. As a Befriender you will be working with families, on a 1:1 basis, with support of our staff teams to provide support to empower families to make a difference in their lives. Befrienders act as a point of contact for families who are struggling with social isolation, or need help to engage with support services.

Newport Connect Mentora will promote a continuum of support for children and families across Newport by providing the opportunity for the development of a bank of volunteer peer mentors across the communities of Newport. These volunteer mentors, led by Volunteer Co-ordinators, and embedded across Newport support services, will ensure that families are able to have continued connection and support with services after their targeted support has come to an end, yet where there is an identified benefit to continue that connection.

We are looking for volunteers, with a passion for making a difference in young people’s lives, with a friendly and approachable attitude and an ability to engage parents/carers and their children, empowering them to take steps towards improving their situation.