Volunteer Led Services
During 2009 we brought all our services which are led by our volunteers under one umbrella to ensure we offer a consistent volunteer experience with regards to training and service provision, not just for our volunteers but for our funders also. As a National Open College Network accredited centre, we are able to offer our volunteers accredited training to both Level 2 and 3 and as such, we hope to offer an assured level of competency to our funders.
We have a range of services which are supported by our 80 strong volunteer base:
Appropriate Adult Scheme
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), and the Codes of Practice accompanying the Act require that, whenever an adult with a mental health issue and/or learning disability or a youth under 17 years of age is taken into police custody, they should be supported by an Appropriate Adult. Ideally, the Appropriate Adult should be the person’s parent, guardian, relative or similar. However, should they be unavailable for any reason, the detained person may have to wait in police custody until a suitable person is found.
This is where the Anglia Care Trust Appropriate Adult Scheme takes over.
On behalf of Suffolk Youth Offending Service and Social Services, Anglia Care Trust provides volunteer Appropriate Adults 365 days a year from 9.00am until 10.00pm throughout the county.
The role of the Appropriate Adult is to safeguard the rights of the detained person, to ensure that their welfare is catered for and to minimize the risk of interviews producing unreliable evidence.
Appropriate Adults ensure that the detained person is treated correctly in accordance with the provisions of PACE and that he/she understands the process at the police station.
They should be present throughout the process when the detainee is:
- Informed of their rights
- Interviewed regarding alleged offences
- Cautioned, reprimanded, given a final warning or charged with an offence
Work to date
The service delivered by Anglia Care Trust commenced in December 2000 and has recorded an average of 90 call outs per month; of these, 55% have been in Ipswich, 30% in the Bury St Edmunds area and 15% in the Lowestoft area.
Mentoring
This project is aimed at being a preventative service, offering one to one adult mentoring support with the focus of assisting young people or adults away from crime, disorder or anti-social behaviour.
The support is delivered by trained volunteers on a one to one basis and is a non-judgemental relationship in which an individual voluntarily gives time to support a young person or adult, over an agreed period of time. The relationship is built on trust, structured and will have clearly defined objectives. Currently this project is funded by the Suffolk Foundation.
Advocacy and Independent Visitor Service
These are services purchased by, but independent of, Suffolk County Council, providing assistance and support to ‘Looked after Children’.
Advocates safeguard ‘Looked after Children and Young People’ protecting them from abuse and poor practice. Advocacy is about empowering children and young people, to make sure that their rights are respected and their views and wishes are heard at all times, supporting them to represent their views and to deal with conflict and anxiety constructively and effectively.
Advocacy builds on the core principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Every Child Matters: Next Steps which puts children’s views and wishes at the forefront of the decision-making process.
Independent Visitors are trained volunteers who provide children and young people (who have little or no contact with their parents and who wish to have an Independent Visitor) with long term friendship, a positive adult relationship and support in helping them to address any problems in their lives. All Looked after Children should, under Section 26A of the Children Act 1989, be offered the chance to have an Independent Visitor or an Advocate should they wish to have one.
Training
All of our volunteers are trained to the highest standard. Training takes place on various evenings and weekends to fit in with commitments of the volunteers. Generic training is given to all volunteers in subjects such as Communciation and Equality and Diversity. Dependent on which service the volunteer then wishes to “specialise” in. We then provide them with more service specific training, which includes some of the following subjects:- The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE)
- The role of the Custody Officer
- The role of an Appropriate Adult
- The role of the Youth Offending Service
- Issues around mental health and learning disabilities
- The role of the solicitor
- The effects of Substance Misuse
- Safeguarding and Child Protection
- Protection of Vulnerable Adults
- The role of the Advocate
Suffolk Advocacy Forum
Anglia Care Trust has recently been awarded a grant by Suffolk County Council to host and facilitate the Suffolk Advocacy Forum on their behalf for the next three years. The Forum has for many years played an important part in bringing people involved in providing independent advocacy in Suffolk together and making advocacy known and accessible to people who may find it helpful. The role of the Forum is, amongst many things:- To promote good practice in advocacy
- To design and provide accessible advocacy training for those interested in knowing more about advocacy
- To support members and share information and expertise
- Facilitating, developing and managing the activities of SAF
- Developing the advocacy training provision within Suffolk
- Develop working practises for advocacy
- Marketing the SAF