What is an Independent Visitor?

Independent visitors are volunteers who befriend and support children and young people who are looked after by Croydon council.

All children looked after should, by law, be offered the chance to have an independent visitor.

Volunteer Independent visitors can make a real difference to a young person by sharing a hobby, sport, or interest. They can help with school or college work or help a young person learn about their own or other people's culture. They meet regularly with a young person to do activities together, talk, be supportive and have fun.

Volunteer Independent visitors meet their young person once or twice a month for a few hours. We ask for volunteers to commit to a young person for a minimum of 12 months.

In some cases volunteers have carried on visiting a young person for many years and their relationship has continued until the young person leaves the care system and beyond.

At other times, the relationship comes to a natural end as the young person grows older, or the circumstances of the volunteer or young person may change. If this happens, you can continue to volunteer with us and support another young person.

Who can volunteer

We welcome applications from all ages and backgrounds. You do not need any specific qualifications or experience to be a volunteer independent visitor. You need to be kind, patient, empathetic, non-judgmental and have good listening skills!

We are particularly keen to recruit male volunteers and people from BAME communities.

The young people we support

All young people waiting for a volunteer independent visitor are looked after by us. They will be facing difficulties and situations which may be hard for us to comprehend. As an independent visitor you will need to be respectful, caring, patient, encouraging and understanding.

Most of our young people live in Croydon or neighbouring boroughs. However, some of our young people might be placed further afield, for example in Kent or Sussex, which can be isolating. For these young people, it can make a huge difference for a volunteer to be prepared to travel out to see them, or to video call.

Supporting children with Complex Disabilities

We are currently exploring ways of supporting looked after young people with complex disabilities who live in residential settings. If you are willing to support children with complex disabilities to have fun and have any relevant experience, do let us know when completing your application form.

How we support you

Full training is provided. In order to prepare you for the role, we cover the following topics:

Introduction to the care system

Loss Trauma and Attachment

Communication

Safeguarding

Practicalities and boundaries of the IV role.

Once matched, you will be assigned a dedicated co-coordinator who will support you and answer questions or concerns you may have.

We will also support you by

Giving you access to an out of hours emergency phone line for any issues arising out of office hours.

Helping you to access further training to develop your IV role

ensuring that all volunteer independent visitors have regular one to one with their coordinator.

Organising gatherings for our volunteers to socialize and network.

Expenses

We pay volunteers allowances for agreed activities and transport costs. No volunteer should be out of pocket for anything they do as part of their role as an independent visitor.

Contact - Rebecca Jordan / Stuart Tait / Dorrotya Tiba

Email - IV@croydon.gov.uk 

                rebecca.jordan@croydon.gov.uk

Sessions Run

Monday evening, Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, Friday evening