Samantha Linton

I am currently in a step-up position as Children's Rights Manager which is due to end 31.01.2025 with the view of returning to my Independent Visitor Coordinator role in February 2025

My key responsibilities are:

Managing & Supervising the Independent Visitors and Advocates

Managing the referrals for the Independent Visitor Coordinators and Advocates

Implementing processes and new ways of working to ensure we are promoting children's rights

As an Independent Visitor Coordinator I was responsible for:

Volunteer Recruitment

Volunteer Training

Volunteer Supervision - 33 Volunteers at point of stepping up to new role

Overseeing the referrals from professionals

Matching Volunteers to a Young Person in Care

Reviewing the Matches every 6 months - 33 Matches

Attending Internal & External Team Meetings

Attending Community Events

Attending National Independent Visitor Annual Events & Regional Meetings

This gave our young people a consistent person, adding value to their lives and ensuring as a care leaver they had a key person to go to. Having an independent visitor gave the young person another person to help guide and support them and offering opportunity to advocate for the child and young person if it was needed.

Now known as Strengthening Families - my key role was to support children, young people and families and to help them to identify their strengths and build on these to ensure the children and young people had the best possible lived experience they could whilst empowering the parents to work on the worries and concerns and inspire them to want to improve their families outcomes.

At the forefront of all of this was the voice of the child and ensuring that they were involved and understood the decisions that were being made.

As Family Support Worker at Woodvale Primary I was responsible for:

• The day to day child protection case work and paperwork and yearly safeguarding training
• Supervising and organising the creche for parenting and adult learning groups
• Provided emotional support for improved family dynamics.
• Collaborated with external support providers to maintain good care continuity.
• Liaised closely with social services and other external services to safeguard at-risk children.

As Creche Lead, I was responsible for managing the staff and liaising with the parenting course facilitators to ensure we provided a fun and safe space for parents and their children.

The parents on these courses were supported by social care and many of the children that attended the creche had complex needs.

Alongside this role I was also a Contact Supervisor - now known as a Family Time Supervisor.

My main aim was to provide a safe environment for the children and their families and to promote quality family time.

It was very important that my record keeping was precise and accurate as this part of the child's lived experience and would be used as evidence towards decision making in what was in the child's best interest.

At the end of my NNEB College course I was offered a job with my current placement to support a young person with behavioural difficulties. This role then led me into being part of the school's focus group to opening a nursery and becoming part of the nursery team until I left in 1997 to further my own personal development in holistic therapies