3 Foster carer volunteer jobs in Birmingham

Job Title: Independent Visitor (Volunteer) Co-ordinator

Service: Coram Voice - Cheshire East

Reporting to: Children’s Rights Manager

Salary: £13,300 per annum (FTE £26,600)

Location: Home-based, with travel required across the area.

Hours: 17.5hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Job Introduction

Are you passionate about supporting and developing volunteers?

Do you want to make a lasting difference to the life of a child or young person in care?

Are you motivated by children’s rights and committed to ensuring that children and young people have their voices heard?

Would you like to help create meaningful, safe and lasting relationships between children in care and trusted adult volunteers?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

Coram Voice is looking for an enthusiastic and committed Independent Visitor Volunteer Co-ordinator to join our Independent Visitor Service in Cheshire East.

This is an exciting opportunity to coordinate and develop a statutory Independent Visitor Service, ensuring that children and young people are at the heart of everything we do.

You will recruit, assess, select, train and support volunteers to become Independent Visitors, helping them to develop positive, safe and enduring relationships with children and young people in care.

For many children and young people, their Independent Visitor can become a consistent and trusted adult in their life, someone who is independent of the care system, who listens to them, spends time with them and supports them to enjoy experiences and opportunities based around their interests and wishes.

About Coram

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.

We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.

Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

About Coram Voice

Coram Voice is a national independent children’s charity, established in 1975. We champion the rights of children and young people and work to ensure their voices are heard in decisions that affect their lives.

We work with children and young people in care, care leavers, children in need, children in custody and others who depend upon the support of the state.

Our services include advocacy, a helpline, Independent Visitor services, participation, independent person services, policy and campaigning, and training and development.

Our work is underpinned by a commitment to children’s rights, participation and child-centred practice.

About the role

As Independent Visitor Co-ordinator, you will take day-to-day responsibility for ensuring the service is child and young person-led.

You will meet children and young people following referral, listen to their views and wishes, and ensure these are central to the matching process and throughout their Independent Visiting relationship.

You will also lead on the recruitment and selection of Independent Visitor volunteers, ensuring they receive appropriate induction, training and ongoing support to confidently undertake their role.

A key part of the role will be building strong relationships with children and young people, volunteers, families, carers and professionals across Cheshire East. You will work collaboratively with colleagues and partner agencies to promote the service and identify opportunities to recruit and retain a diverse pool of volunteers.

You will also contribute to the ongoing development and quality of the service, including sharing good practice and supporting the implementation of the National Independent Visitor Standards.

This is a role where you can see the difference your work makes. You will help create the conditions for a child or young person and their Independent Visitor to develop a relationship that can continue to provide friendship, consistency and support over time.

Why join us?

This is an opportunity to join a passionate organisation that places children's rights at the centre of its work.

You will have the opportunity to:

• Make a genuine and lasting difference to the lives of children and young people in care.
• Support volunteers to develop meaningful and rewarding relationships with children and young people.
• Help ensure children and young people have access to an independent and consistent adult relationship.
• Contribute to the development and quality of a statutory Independent Visitor Service.
• Share learning and good practice through Coram Voice's Community of Practice and the wider Independent Visitor network.
• Support the implementation of the National Independent Visitor Standards.
• Work alongside colleagues and partners across children’s social care and related services.

We recognise the valuable contribution our staff make and offer an attractive benefits package, including:

• competitive salary;
• matched pension contributions of up to 5% of salary;
• generous annual leave entitlement of up to 25 days, increasing with length of service;
• an additional three days' paid leave between Christmas and New Year;
• family-friendly policies;
• support for employee wellbeing;
• a supportive working environment; and
• opportunities for learning, development and professional growth.

Most importantly, you will have a genuine opportunity to make a difference to children and young people every day.

Recruitment process

Our Children’s Rights Managers will undertake shortlisting. Successful candidates will be invited for interview.The interview process comprises of a written exercise and a panel interview.Successful candidates will have a further one to one interview with an independent Warner consultant in accordance within Warner recommendations. Internal candidates will need to notify HR of their interest in the post and they will provide further information on the internal application process.

Returning your application:

• We cannot accept general CVs.
• When completing your application form, please address the essential criteria in the person specification and demonstrate how you meet it.
• Applications will not be considered if incomplete.
• If you are a current Coram Voice employee you may submit a supporting statement only, addressing the person specification requirements for the post.

Closing date: 11.59pm, 28 October 2026

Interview date: Week commencing 2 November 2026

General consideration for applications:

• DBS checks: all posts are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring check.
• Training: All successful candidates are required to complete our compulsory training programme which includes training in Advocacy (Advocacy in Action), Safeguarding, and Diversity.
• Conflict of interest: the independence of the service is important to Coram Voice. Prospective applicants need to raise any other potential conflicts of interest when initially contacting Coram Voice about this post.

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from, Asian, African, Caribbean and other minority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care, those with neurodiversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.