Life with a child with special educational needs or a disability (SEND) is full of ups and downs. You see your amazing children succeed and have great working relationships. But sometimes there is also frustrating progress, lack of support and challenging situations.
Whatever your situation or experiences there are some things that all parents and carers need – access to information you can trust and support from other parents who understand what you’re going through. Many parents also want to share what they have learned and help services get better for everyone.
The Ambassador Volunteer Programme helps parents and carers do all these things!
What is the programme about?
The Ambassador Volunteer programme connects parents within their own communities and more widely into a network across Devon.
Ambassador volunteers are based in communities across the county. Some are mums and dads of children with SEND and some are professionals and support staff who work with them. What they all have in common is a desire to help families and an understanding of what life is like with a child with special educational needs.
Volunteers do two main things:
- They share information from DiAS about all kinds of SEND issues and help parents to access DiAS services. This means parents get the most up to date information and support to help them make decisions and understand what’s happening for their family.
- They help parents share their views about Devon services and support through the local Parent Carer Forum. This is a great way to influence policy and change the way services work for children and young people with SEND in Devon.
We are always looking for new volunteers to help support families in their local areas. If you’re interested, we’d love to hear from you. You can find out more about how volunteers support parents and carers, what being a volunteer is all about and how to apply in the sections below.
Our Ambassador Coordinator, Sarah Lord, has written an introduction to the AV programme, explaining the key things it does and how to connect. You can also find more detailed information about the programme and what it has achieved by reading the annual reports:
Ambassador volunteers do a wide range of different things, depending on what is happening in their local communities, what their interests are and how much time they can give to the role. Here are some examples:
- sharing SEND information from DiAS out to their networks, on social media sites or locally at their schools and to their contacts
- starting and running an SEND support group in partnership with a school
- supporting parent carer groups or working with an organisation to share information that way
Many volunteers are parents who just want to help other parents find their way to the support they need on their SEND journey. Some volunteers are professionals and they support parent carers and their families in support groups.
“I became an ambassador volunteer because I want to help other parents to become more confident in finding and getting support for themselves and their children.”
You’re not expected to do any particular activity. Sarah, the programme coordinator, will work with you to achieve what you want and help you to support parent carers of children with SEND in your area in the best way you can.
You are also not expected to be a legal or education expert! If a parent or carer needed specific help or support about their situation the Ambassador volunteer would help them to contact DiAS directly for advice. Ambassador volunteers don’t support parent and carers at meetings either.
Ambassador volunteers have all kind of backgrounds and personal experience. Many of them choose to volunteer because they want to give something back to their community, and now feels like the right time and this feels like the right role. Volunteers enjoy helping people find their way through the system and get the right help and support. They feel like they make a real difference.
Volunteers get support and training to help them do their role and a sense of being a part of a wider network. Each month they have a virtual team meeting with other Ambassador Volunteers. They have training sessions twice a year too, focusing on topics that the volunteers have asked for help with. Volunteers don’t have to do these, but it helps them feel part of something bigger. We ask all volunteers to do safeguarding training online too.
The training is free and if you have any travelling expenses, we will refund those.
“Sometimes it’s the small things: I was able to confirm to a parent that she wasn’t being pushy by emailing the SENDCO to chase something which had been promised. She had been on the verge of this for a year but was lacking confidence.”
You need to be a good listener and a sense of humour helps! You’ll be meeting and talking to lots of new people, so you will need to enjoy that kind of thing and be supportive and understanding. Our volunteers have a positive attitude to life with a child with SEND and to the benefits of supporting others.
If you’re interested in becoming an Ambassador volunteer, you can email Sarah Lord who runs the programme, or you can fill out a registration form.
PCFD is the independent Parent Carer Forum for Devon. It’s for all families of children and young people with additional needs and disabilities in Devon. They are an independent group of parents and carers of children with additional needs and disabilities who want to make things better for the families, children and young people of Devon.Page last updated: June 2023
Page due for review: June 2025