Frequently Asked Questions
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The application process
How do I apply to become a mentor?
1. Attend an information evening - you’ll hear more about the mentoring, meet a current mentor and ask any questions you may have. You’ll also pick up an application pack.
2. Submit your application documents:
These are:
a. Mentor application form
b. Completed Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) application form - we’ll give you this in your application pack
c. Your passport, driving licence and two proofs of address dated in the last three months e.g. bank statements, mobile phone bills or payslips. We need to see the originals of these, take a copy and give them back to you.
3. Attend the next set of training days
4. Attend an interview at Chance UK
After this, we take up your references and send off your CRB form. You are also required to be interviewed by two members of staff. The staff team will then meet to decide whether to accept you as a Chance UK mentor - which can only happen once your CRB check and two satisfactory references have been returned.
Do I need to attend all three training days, or just one?
You need to attend all three days.
What if I can’t make one of the training days?
For assessment and homework purposes, we ask our mentors to come to all three training days. So if you couldn’t make one or two of them, we would book you on the next set of three in a row that you can make. We hold training sessions roughly every other month.
I am interested - how can I find out more?
Come along to one of our information sessions, meet the staff and pick up an application pack.
What happens in the matching stage?
We go through the list of children who need Chance UK mentors, and decide which of our ready to match mentors would be the best mentor for them. We take our time at this stage, as it’s really important to ensure that the mentor and child share interests and will get on for the whole year.
How long does it take to get matched with a child?
There is no exact time from application to beginning the mentoring, as this depends on several stages.
After the training, we will send off for two references and an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check to ensure you have no convictions that would make you unsuitable for working with children. The CRB check can take anything between two and five months to come back, and we are unable to accept mentors until this is received.
After this, Chance UK staff will meet as a team to decide whether to accept you as a mentor, and whether there are currently any suitable children that you could be matched with.
As a rough guide, a potential mentor should expect to wait 4-6 months from submitting their application to being matched with a child.
What happens after you match a child with a mentor?
The potential mentor is told about the child’s background, family life and the difficulties they are experiencing over the phone. If the mentor decides that they are willing to become this child’s mentor, we encourage them to make the journey to the child’s locality from work or home as appropriate, so that they know exactly much time it will take.
An induction is then arranged for the mentor to give them a Health and Safety card, and other important documentation relating to the mentoring.
If the volunteer would prefer to mentor a different child to the one we suggest, that’s ok too. When the next matching meeting takes place, staff will try to find a different child for the volunteer to mentor
The mentoring
What days of the week can I do the mentoring?
Most of our children are in school during the week, and many of our mentors work 9-5 jobs. So the majority of mentoring sessions take place at the weekends, often on a Saturday morning or afternoon.
Mentoring can also take place in the evenings, provided the activity and time of year are suitable for this, and the child’s parent is ok with that.
Ideally, you will have a weekly time that your mentoring takes place to help the child gain a sense of routine, but you can also mentor some weekends and some evenings if everyone is ok with that.
What happens on the mentoring sessions?
The mentor will pick the child up from the child’s house, take them to where the session is taking place, and drop the child off at the child’s house at the end of the session.
The focus of mentoring sessions is usually an activity of some kind. This can be almost anything you can think of suitable for a child aged between 5 and 11, such as playing games in the park, reading, visiting museums, arts and crafts and sightseeing.
The mentor will also be working on helping the child with their particular difficulties, such as anger management, socialisation skills or respecting social norms and boundaries.
Can I take the child to a session in my car?
We strongly encourage the use of public transport on the mentoring sessions. This is because it is important that the parent can continue the mentoring activities with the child at the end of the mentoring year, and most of the families we work with do not have their own car.
Showing the child how to use buses, trains and other public transport an education in itself, and can promote self sufficiency in the child that continues long after the mentoring finishes.
So while it can be ok to travel to the child’s house by car, it’s much better to then go to the session by public transport. You can claim back your travel expenses each month, so you won’t be out of pocket.
How would I contact the child’s parent or carer between sessions?
Our mentors will exchange mobile telephone numbers with the parent or carer of the child when they first meet (although not with the child if they have a phone). This allows you to contact each other to arrange sessions.
Other information
Why does the mentoring only last for a year?
Our mentors provide fantastic support for the children that they work with. Over the course of the year, mentors and children can become attached as they get used to having fun together and the child grows in confidence.
Saying goodbye to the child at the end of the year can be difficult, but it has many benefits. Some children haven’t experienced positive endings before, whether through friendships or family relationships ending badly. So if the mentoring relationship can end well, the child may view the end of other relationships in their life differently.
For the child to know that the fact that the mentoring is ending but that this is not a bad reflection on them, or that they are at fault in any way, is also a hugely important lesson. Knowing from the beginning that the mentoring lasts for one year helps them learn this.
Finally, we want to encourage independence in the children we work with, not dependence. The child is often better at making friends, getting on with teachers and is more confident by the end of the year, so it is then time for them to take these skills and use them in their relationships with others.
Similarly, adults don't usually ride bikes with the stabilisers still on – we’ve taken them off and can now cycle solo. The end of the mentoring year is like the removal of stabilisers in this way.
Can I spend my own money on the child?
We provide a refundable budget of £30 per month for the mentoring sessions, excluding the mentor’s travel expenses.
Again, this is because we want to encourage you to do activities that the child’s family can continue when the mentoring finishes, and the families we work with don’t usually come from high income backgrounds.
A mentor may be able to afford an expensive gift quite easily, but this could impact on the child’s relationship with their family, who may not be able to afford things quite so easily - so it wouldn’t be the best thing for them.
How do you support the child’s family?
As well as the child’s behavioural issues, the child’s family may also be facing other difficulties.
We have a member of staff who manages the Parent Plus programme. This programme provides support for the parents of the children in a number of different areas in their lives.
This can include assistance applying for financial support, helping them work with social services or signposting to other agencies.
How does the parent feel about having a mentor for their child?
The mentoring will only take place if the parent is fully supportive of it happening. Our mentors are in a great position of trust, and will generally build up a positive working relationship with the main carer.
Parents usually welcome the support that a mentor provides. 96% of our parents report that their relationship with their children improves as a result of the mentoring, so it is almost like the two influences are working in partnership for the benefit of the child.
Do the child’s siblings ever get jealous over the child having a mentor?
Sometimes the child's siblings are jealous that their brother or sister has someone who can take them out and play every week. While the mentoring relationship must remain one-to-one, you can always encourage the child to include their sibling in other games and activities. This will improve the relationships and atmosphere within the whole family.
Can I still be a mentor if I have a physical disability?
If you have a physical disability that could make it difficult to mentor a physically active child who loves sports and is full of energy, we will invite you to a meeting with Chance UK staff. This will give us a chance to find out more about your disability, and what you can and can't do. We will contact you after the meeting to tell you whether we feel you would be able to work as a Chance UK mentor.
Our mentors will encourage the child to be considerate with their siblings, so the relationship will hopefully improve naturally.
You would receive support from your Programme Manager if there is anything else you need to do in order to deal with this issue.
