Family Support - Family Befriender (Supporting across Gateshead, Durham, Sunderland, Middlesbrough & Stockton on Tees)

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.

Foundation Start Well has been set up to support women who are pregnant and have previously had one or more children permanently removed from their care. We support women on this journey and help them to better understand what is going on. We work with these women to understand what their goals are and create an individual plan which is focussed on the individual and helping them to achieve their goals and provide the best possible start for themselves and their baby. Once the intensive work has been completed many of the women still like support from Barnardo’s we currently run a Moving on Group and a befriending service.

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.