Rights, Advocacy and Trauma Recovery Worker (Ayrshire)

Bairns Hoose - Ayrshire

Full-time

Fixed-term

37,189 - 42,687 £ per year

The Role

Job Reference: CF26-18
Job Title: Bairns Hoose Rights, Advocacy and Trauma Recovery Worker
Location: Pan Ayrshire (base in Irvine, North Ayrshire)
Salary: Band D, £37,189 - £42,687 per annum
Post Type: Fixed Term until 31^st March 2027, Full time 35 hours
Closing Date: 1^st June 2026 at 12.00 noon
Interview Date: Week commencing 15^th June 2026

In this role, you’ll:

Provide trauma recovery support to children, young people and families throughout care, protection and justice processes.
Complete high-quality assessments of need and risk to inform recovery planning and ongoing support.
Deliver flexible outreach support across Ayrshire and island communities, based on the needs of children and families.
Provide advocacy support to help children, young people and families express their views and navigate complex systems.
Deliver and support participation activities, group work and events to gather the views and experiences of children, young people and families.
Build positive working relationships with professionals involved in children’s care, protection and justice journeys.
Contribute to participation and influencing work by sharing the experiences and views of children, young people and families to support system improvement.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

Supported children, young people and families who have experienced trauma, abuse or harm.
Assessed risk and need and developed supportive plans with children and families.
Worked collaboratively with multi-agency partners.
Delivered direct support and group work with children, young people or families.
Ability to work independently, manage workload effectively and respond flexibly to changing needs.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including report writing.
Ability to have open, honest and constructive conversations.
Commitment to Children First values and trauma-informed practice.

What we offer:

A workplace with values of with love, with purpose and with strength
40 days annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
Pension scheme and wellbeing support
Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
Access to Westfield Health, giving colleagues and their families confidential counselling support, wellbeing resources, and access to health and lifestyle benefits to support physical and mental wellbeing.
Blue Light card discount
A Fair Work accredited workplace

Our Values

Living our values, you will help create a workplace where our people can thrive, ensuring we deliver the best possible support to children and families.

With love, we put children first.
With purpose, we transform lives together.
With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

How to Apply

If you share our values and are passionate about supporting our people, we would love to hear from you.

Closing date: 1^st June 2026 at 12 noon
Interviews: Week commencing Monday 15^th June 2026

Contact: For more information, email leana.grant@childrenfirst.org.uk

FULL JOB DESCRIPTION

About the Role

We are looking for a compassionate, skilled and relationship-based practitioner to join our Bairns Hoose team. You will provide trauma recovery support, advocacy and rights-based support to children, young people and families who have experienced abuse or harm. This may include physical, emotional or sexual abuse, domestic abuse, exploitation, neglect, trafficking or online harm.
You will work alongside children and families through care, protection and justice processes, helping them feel heard, informed, supported and empowered throughout their journey.

This is a flexible and outreach-based role, requiring collaborative working with other services across Ayrshire’s communities to ensure support is accessible, responsive and centred around the needs of each child and family.

Key Responsibilities

Supporting Children, Young People and Families

Provide trauma recovery support to children, young people and families throughout care, protection and justice processes.
Build trusting, inclusive and respectful relationships that work alongside children and families in a strengths-based and trauma-responsive way.
Deliver flexible outreach support across Ayrshire and island communities, based on the needs of children and families.
Support children and young people to understand and participate in justice processes, including court and evidence by commissioner processes where appropriate.
Complete high-quality assessments of need and risk to inform recovery planning and ongoing support.
Promote and uphold children’s rights, ensuring children and young people feel heard, informed and involved in decisions affecting them.
Provide advocacy support to help children, young people and families express their views and navigate complex systems.
Deliver and support participation activities, group work and events to gather the views and experiences of children, young people and families.

Partnership and Collaborative Working

Work collaboratively with Children First colleagues and multi-agency partners to support the development and delivery of Bairns Hoose Ayrshire.
Build positive working relationships with professionals involved in children’s care, protection and justice journeys.
Contribute to participation and influencing work by sharing the experiences and views of children, young people and families to support system improvement.
Engage openly and meaningfully in supervision, peer support and reflective practice.
Represent the service positively with local and national partners, stakeholders and networks.

Service Delivery and Professional Practice

Work flexibly from our North Ayrshire base in Irvine and across outreach locations throughout Ayrshire and island communities.
Maintain accurate, proportionate and timely case recording in line with organisational and professional standards.
Deliver one-to-one, family and group-based support sessions and participation opportunities.
Contribute to the ongoing development of Bairns Hoose through learning, feedback and continuous improvement.
Take part in training, learning and continuous professional development relevant to the role.
Work in line with Children First policies, safeguarding responsibilities and values at all times.

Key Result Areas

Relationships with Children, Young People and Families looks like..

Trauma Recovery support to children and their families at every stage of the care, protection and justice journey.
Trauma Recovery support that is:

Inclusive and respectful, working ‘alongside’ families
Flexible and mitigates for barriers to take up support
Delivered where suits the child or family’s needs on an outreach basis within mainland Ayrshire or island communities.

Supporting the child, young person, and their family to be prepared for and participate fully in the justice process, including giving evidence via remote link to court, supporting the evidence by commissioner process, and any other relevant justice processes in which the child participates whilst liaising with relevant roles and services around the child, young person and their family.
Undertaking person centred, quality and timely assessments of the risks and needs of children, young people and families accessing Bairns Hoose recovery support, taking a strengths-based approach, placing the child and family at the centre to inform and develop plans to support recovery.
Recognizing, respecting and campaigning to uphold the rights of children and young people knowing families really well and understanding in what way children’s human rights have been impacted by harm or abuse.
Offering advocacy to assist children, young people and their families in expressing their view, participating in decision making and helping them feel empowered.
Delivering and co facilitating group work and events as part of our Participation work, listening to the needs, experiences and views of children, young people and families who have experienced the justice, care and protection system.

Additional Information

As Bairns Hoose continues to develop across Scotland, this role may evolve to reflect learning, service development and emerging practice. This may include supporting children and young people through additional elements of the Bairns Hoose process, including preparation for medical assessments and supporting informed participation and consent.

The post holder will be expected to:

Work in line with Children First values, policies and professional standards at all times.
Uphold safeguarding responsibilities in line with Child Protection and Adult Protection procedures and national guidance.
Promote equality, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice in all aspects of the role.
Actively support the participation and involvement of children, young people and families in shaping practice and service delivery.
Contribute positively to a culture of collaboration, reflection, learning and wellbeing.
Undertake other duties reasonably required within the scope of the role.

About us

Children First is Scotland’s national children’s charity. We stand up for every child because all children should have a safe childhood. We protect children from harm and support them to recover from trauma and abuse through our national and local services. We help children, their families and the people that care for them by offering emotional, practical, and financial support. We give children hope and a safer, brighter future. Our core values guide how each one of us works in our individual day to day job:

• With love, we put children first.
• With purpose, we transform children’s lives together.
• With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

These values are reflected in everything we do. If you share our vision and values and would like to join our team then we would love to hear from you.