Join Us – Expression of Interest

Would you like to get involved and join our team?

Bromley Parent Voice is a parent carer forum which welcomes all parents or carers of a child or young person up to the age of 25 with a disability or additional need that live in the London Borough of Bromley.

We always need and appreciate any support you are able to offer. Without this support Bromley Parent Voice cannot reach the families in Bromley who need us. So why not join the team and help make a real difference!

Our Aims

To relieve the needs and advance the education of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities, their parents, carers and families, particularly but not exclusively by:

a) the creation of a local parent/carer community that reduces isolation and strengthens the capacity of parents and carers to support their family;

b) the provision of opportunities for parents and carers to influence the decisions that affect their families and to contribute to developing services that meet the needs of their families by raising awareness of the issues faced by Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and their families;

c) the provision of information to inform and empower parents/carers about the services and issues that affect their families;

d) sharing experiences, knowledge and skills with other relevant organisations and individuals.

The Charity is supported by Contact (www.contact.org.uk), the national delivery partner for Parent Participation. Bromley Parent Voice is a member of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (www.nnpcf.org.uk) and attends regular regional meetings with forums from across London. This ensures local issues are raised at a regional and national level.

How can you get involved?

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Parent Representatives/Volunteers

• The role of parent representatives (reps)/Volunteer is to inform decision makers about the experiences of parents and to ensure that parents’ views are fed into decisions about children’s services at an operational or strategic level.
• Through this process parents and professionals reach a common understanding about effective services for disabled children. Their combined information and perspectives result in joint planning that leads to more effective services.

Expectations from a Parent Representative/Volunteer

• They must be able to represent all parents.
• To be truly representative, parent reps have the task of representing the views of parents from a huge range of backgrounds whose children have a wide range of impairments.
• They are knowledgeable.
• To contribute meaningfully, parent reps need the same information as professionals on the working group and the issues it is addressing.
• To represent Bromley Parent Voice at SEND BOARDS and be able to contribute to the meeting.
• Parent Representatives/Volunteers will abide by the Bromley Parent Voice Policies and Procedures.
• Bromley Parent Voice will give ongoing support & training.

What can Bromley Parent Voice expect from Parent Representatives/Volunteers?

• An awareness of other parents views.
• An ability to represent the views of other Parents when they might not be their own.
• A willingness to contribute to discussions.
• Regular attendance at meetings and sending apologies if unable to attend.
• An understanding of meeting etiquette/protocols.
• Coming prepared, e.g. having read minutes and documents.

Volunteers

Volunteer your time, unpaid and of your own free will, to contribute time, energy and skills to benefit children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and Bromley Parent Voice. We are always looking for volunteers to help support the Charity. This could be to help create flyers for events, prepare surveys, help with fundraising, meeting and greeting at events, etc. Do you have a skill you think Bromley Parent Voice could benefit from? Volunteers learn new skills, gain knowledge and confidence and make new friends and share experiences. 

Trustees

As a Trustee you will be responsible for ensuring that the charity follows their aims in acting as a ‘voice’ in supporting parent/carers and their children with special/additional needs or a disability. Trustees lead the charity and decide how it is run. They have overall control of the charity and are responsible for making sure it’s doing what it was set up to do. Interested? Please complete our Trustee Expression of Interest Form.

Reimbursements

• BPV will reimburse Parent Representatives/Volunteers for out of pocket expenses for their work.
• Parent Reps/Volunteers will be issued the BPV Expenses and Renumeration Policy and they will agree to abide by this policy. Any payments received is liable to be taxable, as it may be deemed to be self-employment income. It would be the individuals responsibility to notify HMRC and any other relevant agencies from whom they are claiming benefits of any payments received from Bromley Parent Voice.
• For Volunteering – an agreement would be made that your time, is unpaid and you are contributing of your own free will.

Confidentiality

At times, a strategic working group may discuss confidential matters. It is very important that parent reps are prepared for this and abide by the forum’s confidentiality agreement.  In addition, parent reps should be subject to exactly the same confidentiality rules as all other members of the working group and no more.

Every role will make a difference! What to do next? 

Please complete the below Join Us – Expression of Interest form and submit. You will receive an email acknowledgement and a member form the BPV team will be in contact with you.

All Expression of Interests will be reviewed by the current Operations Manager.

Thank you for your interest in joining the Bromley Parent Voice Team.

Registered Charity number: 1172718

JOIN US – EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM