Birmingham Children's Trust
Rights and Participation Worker
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Rights and Participation Worker
Rights and Participation Worker – Birmingham Children’s Trust
We are seeking a passionate, motivated, and relationship-focused Rights and Participation Worker to ensure the voices of children, young people, and families are heard, valued, and acted upon across Birmingham Children’s Trust.
This role includes a secondary focus on developing and leading a new Parental Peer Advocated Programme.
About the Role
This is a hybrid role based in Birmingham (UK), requiring valid right-to-work documentation. Sponsorship or visa support is not available.
You will play a critical role in ensuring the Trust operates in a genuinely co-produced way, where the experiences, views, and ideas of children and families directly influence:
- Service design
- Decision-making
- Practice improvements
Core responsibilities include:
- Supporting direct engagement with children, young people, and families across Birmingham.
- Facilitating meaningful participation, including consultation, advocacy, and co-production activities such as:
- Group development, forums and workshops
- Events, surveys, and feedback sessions
- Creative engagement opportunities
- Building trusting, respectful relationships with participants, professionals, and stakeholders.
- Working with Trust colleagues and partner agencies to promote children’s rights, strengthen participation, and embed a culture of child-driven service development.
You will ensure that voices lead to actionable change, demonstrating tangible outcomes where feedback has informed service improvements.
Responsibilities
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Direct Engagement & Support:
- Act as an advocate and facilitator, ensuring children, young people, and families feel safe, heard, and included.
- Develop and deliver inclusive participation activities that cater to diverse backgrounds and needs.
- Support co-design of services, decision-making processes, and improvement initiatives.
- Collaborate with professionals, families, and partners to promote a participation culture.
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Relational & Stakeholder Work:
- Cultivate strong, confidential, and non-judgemental relationships.
- Work sensitively with individuals who may have had negative past experiences.
- Bridge gaps between children/families and Trust decision-makers.
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- Strategic Contribution:
- Help embed participation and co-production practices across the Trust.
- Ensure feedback is captured and escalated effectively, driving policy and practice changes.
- Champion accessibility, inclusion, and transparency in participation processes.
Requirements & Skills
To excel in this role, you must:
- Have deep passion for improving outcomes for children, young people, and families.
- Strong belief in children’s rights, including their right to participate in decisions that impact them.
- Proven experience of working directly with children, young people, or families (preferably in a roles involving advocacy, engagement, or participation).
- Ability to build rapport quickly and create safe, trusting environments.
- Expertise in co-production methods, including:
- Facilitating client groups
- Ranous community consultations
- Conducting feedback sessions
- Excellent communication skills, including creative, sensitive, and culturally aware approaches.
- Experience working with diverse groups (e.g., including those in safeguarding concerns, disadvantaged backgrounds, or neurodivergent needs).
- Strong organisational skills to plan and deliver workshops, surveys, events.
Person Specification Explained
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Key Traits:
- Empathy, respect, understanding of adversity
- Commitment to permanency and empowerment
- Adaptability to work with families with challenging experiences
-
Essential Soft Skills:
- Listening and negotiating with complex opinions
- Motivating to participation without coercion
- Translating lived experiences into actionable insights
The Birmingham Children’s Trust
Mission & Values
Our outstanding ‘Good’ Ofsted rating (2023) highlights our excellence in leadership, partnership working, safeguarding, and corporate parenting.
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We deliver safeguarding, education, and health support for over 10,000 vulnerable children and young people in Birmingham. Our approach is built on:
✔ Compassion – Listening first, acting intentionally. ✔ Inclusivity – "No-one left behind" ethos. ✔ Collaboration – Partnerships with schools, health agencies, and police.
We value ✔ Relational working – People before systems. ✔ Resourcefulness – Ensuring every effort has the highest social impact. ✔ Team unity – Our shared focus drives better outcomes for Birmingham’s most disadvantaged families.
Safeguarding Commitment
- All roles at Birmingham Children’s Trust (where appropriate) require an appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
- We assess safety based on specific role scope and level of contact with children.
- We treat everyone fairly, including individuals with past offences.
Interviews: In-person, 31st July 2024.
Benefits
- Leave: 30 days annual leave + bank holidays; rising to 33 after 5 years, 35 after 10.
- Parking & Charging: Free on-site parking (Aston + Stirchley) + EV charging.
- Benefits Scheme: Access to:
- Blue Light Card (over £100 annual savings)
- Health, dental, and wellbeing support
- Rewards programs & pension contributions
- Flexibility: Hybrid working – blend of office and remote days.
- Pension: Career average revalued pension scheme in line with local government standards.
Why Join Us?
🌟 Impactful Work – Change lives daily for Birmingham’s most vulnerable young people. 🤝 Supportive Culture – Valued contributions, open dialogue. 📚 Development – Tailored learning and mentorship, career progression. 🤞 Above-average pay & perks including secondary health benefits and generouslydated leave.
By joining Birmingham Children’s Trust, you become part of teams that strive to break cycles of disadvantage.
Let’s shape a fairer future together.
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