Children and Young Peoples Independent Sexual Violence Advocate* (ChiSVA)

Job Profile

Job Title	Children and Young Peoples Independent Sexual Violence Advocate* (ChiSVA)
Hours of work	35 hours per week
Salary	£28,505 per annum
Contract	Fixed term to 31st March 2028 (possible extension subject to funding)
Annual Leave Entitlement	28 days per annum plus statutory Bank Holiday entitlement
Responsible to	ISVA Manager
Location	CRCC Office (Cambridge) with travel Countywide

Other information:

* We require the post holder to be female - Genuine Occupational Requirement (GOR), Schedule 9 (Work; Exceptions), Part 1 (Occupational Requirements), of the Equality Act (2010) applies.

This post is subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

This post is part of a countywide ISVA service covering Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

There may be occasional evening work

The post holder must hold a full UK driving licence and have access to their own vehicle for work

Job Purpose:

To provide information, support, advice and advocacy to children and young people who have experienced sexual assault or sexual abuse in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The post holder will deliver child centred support to young survivors and non-abusing care givers around criminal justice processes, wellbeing, education and safety, while ensuring child protection procedures are followed at all times.

The post holder will work closely with other agencies such as Social Care, the Police, Education, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and voluntary sector organisations to ensure that children and young people are kept safe and are well supported. They will prioritise, assess, plan, evaluate and deliver all relevant aspects of support to an agreed and expected high standard.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Main Duties:

To engage with children, young people and their caregivers accessing the ISVA service, accounting for their individual needs, background, rights and current circumstances.

To advise and support the young survivor and their caregivers around processes connected to criminal justice, child protection and education. This will involve attending and arranging meetings with other relevant professionals as needed.

To empower and enable children and young people to take age-appropriate responsibility by providing accurate, up to date information, enabling them to make informed choices about their circumstances.

To provide advocacy support where required to ensure the voice of the young survivor is heard by other professionals, promoting their wellbeing and best interests.

To provide face to face and telephone emotional support services to children, young people and their families/carers, both short and long term

Remain up to date with other services and support for young people locally, ensuring appropriate and timely onwards referrals are made where required

Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre

To liaise with the police and criminal justice agencies on behalf of the child, young person, parent/carer, adhering to CRCCs confidentiality and safeguarding policies

To provide support to young survivors around court, including arranging pre-trial court visits to reduce anxiety.

To liaise with the investigating police officer to ensure young survivors and their families are kept up to date and informed around next steps.

To maintain accurate and up to date records of the support offered to young survivors via the service

To contribute to CRCCs wider emotional support and outreach work with children and young people, such as groups and visits to educations settings.

To work as part of the county wide ISVA team to deliver high quality care and support and to participate in the development of CRCCs services for children and young people

To follow all CRCCs policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding and data protection processes.

Individual Responsibilities:

Manage own caseload

Attend and participate regularly in team meetings, management and clinical supervision

Keep up to date with relevant developments and research in relation to sexual violence, criminal justice policies and legislative changes.

To maintain a healthy work/life balance, taking responsibility for scheduling time off and balancing workloads with support from managers where required

Provide specialist advice to other workers and agencies, including delivering training sessions

Maintain a clear understanding of the impacts of sexual violence on children and young people, working alongside other relevant professionals to help keep them safe.

Be fully aware of available resources to promote access to support, such as interpreters, signers etc

Engage in and support CRCCs monitoring and evaluation processes, enabling the evaluation of effectiveness of the service.

Flexibility statement

The content of this Job Profile represents an outline of the post only and is therefore not a precise catalogue of duties and responsibilities. The Job Profile is therefore intended to be flexible and is subject to review and amendment in the light of changing circumstances, following consultation with the post holder.

Person Specification

Children and Young Peoples ISVA (ChIsVA)
Essential Criteria			Assessed by
Experience	● crimes backgrounds people its effects on survivors	Experience of providing practical and emotional support to survivors of sexual violence or other Significant experience of working with vulnerable children and young people Experience of working within a multi-agency framework/with staff from different professional Experience of safeguarding children and young	Application/Interview
Knowledge	responsibilities	Knowledge of the nature of sexual violence and Knowledge of the criminal justice system relating to rape and sexual violence An understanding of child safeguarding and legal Knowledge of the range of statutory and voluntary agencies with which survivors may encounter following disclosure Thorough understanding of confidentiality and data protection principles Communicate clearly, tactfully, and effectively	Application/Interview
Skills/Attributes	complex issues and work flexibly effectively Office	with a range of people by telephone, writing, and in person, often over sensitive and/or Ability to prioritise and manage own workload Ability to manage own workload and plan time Ability to take initiative and to problem-solve High level of influencing and advocacy skills Ability and willingness to develop skills to enhance practice and the service Ability to work on own or as a part of a team Administrative and computer skills in Microsoft Understanding and full commitment to Equal	Application/Interview
		Opportunities and anti-oppressive practice A commitment to improving the lives of children and young people who have experienced sexual violence	Application/Interview
Values and Attitudes	practices	A willingness to participate in training and professional development Clear boundaries around confidential working Commitment to delivering a quality service
	Ability to be positive and constructive in thepromotion of good practice to safeguardchildren and young peopleCommitment to confidentiality and safety of selfand othersCommitment to working inter-professionally andinter-agency0 Commitment to equal opportunities and anti-oppressive practice
Other	• Full driving licence and own vehicle	Application
	Desirable Criteria	Assessed by
Education	Educated to degree level in a relevant disciplinesuch as Sociology, Criminology or PsychologyChISVA qualification, Rape Crisisqualification/training	Application
Experience	• Experience of working with sexual health andmental health servicesExperience of working in the women's sector	Application/interview
Knowledge	● Knowledge of legal, welfare & housing rightsKnowledge of Sexual Offence Act 2003, MentalCapacity Act 2005, Data Protection Act 1998,Human Rights Act, and the Children Act 2004.	Application/interview