Independent Visitor

To be an Independent Visitor (IV) is to be a trusted adult to a child or young person in care, where it is thought that this will be in their best interests to provide opportunities for children and young people to develop meaningful, long-term relationships with adults.

The IV volunteer scheme is a statutory service for children who are ‘looked after’ by the local authority. It is for those children who would benefit from having an IV in their life. This scheme is voluntary for the young person, which means that they can choose to have an IV at any time from age eight up until they turn 21.

IVs need to be consistent and reliable, so that children can build a trusting, positive relationship with them over time. The child will have the opportunity to try new activities and spend time with their IV away from their placement.

The IV will endeavour to become and remain a consistent adult in the child’s life, who does not change when placements or social workers do.

IVs begin by supporting the young person fortnightly for the first three months, and then continue on a monthly basis. IVs can meet with young people Monday – Sunday between 9am and 8pm.

Process:

You will need an account to register your interest for this role. Once you have registered your interest you will receive an automatic email with next steps. If you have not received this in a couple of hours, please do get in touch as it may not have registered (volunteering@hiveportsmouth.org.uk). 

You will need to respond to the "Criteria Check" email to progress with this role. 

Please check your junk email folder in case any emails end up there.  Friendly reminder that the charities/organisations emails may end up here too. 

Don't forget you can add up any volunteering hours as part of Team 100 Opportunity - Hive Portsmouth or part of the Donate 100 things challenge Opportunity

Skills

Training and support will be provided therefore previous experience is not essential. We are seeking volunteers who feel able to:

- communicate and ensure people, with varied levels of ability, understand information
- listen and remain calm and impartial when dealing with families
- record information
- respect differing views of individuals and work in a non-judgmental way
- respect confidentiality and the agreed information sharing process
- have the confidence to report concerns to their Volunteer Coordinator
- be able to describe their role and maintain professional boundaries

Availability 

Monday to Sunday between 9am and 8pm

IVs begin by supporting the young person fortnightly for the first three months, and then continue on a monthly basis. We ask volunteers to provide support for a minimum of one year.