Before making contact with a volunteer please read the short 'Top Tips' page here.
The purpose of recertifying volunteers is:
- To maintain a high level of safety and security for our families and volunteers
- To fulfil our safeguarding policies and procedures, including renewing volunteers’ disclosure checks in line with industry best practice.
- To check that the HSC is still appropriate and up to date
- To ensure all volunteers, no matter how long they have been with us, feel equipped and empowered to offer support hope and belonging by completing Module 4 (M4) training, also known as the recertification module.
Further to the purposes above, our recertification process has proven to be a great opportunity to encourage inactive volunteers to re-engage. As such, it is important for the CVM to contact the volunteers with an appreciative and celebratory tone, even if they haven’t supported many families.
The recertification process takes place every 3 years for a Safe Families’ volunteer. This is because, whilst a volunteer’s disclosure check does not legally expire, Safe Families matches industry standards in considering a disclosure check to ‘expire’ at the 3.25-year mark. CVMs should aim to complete the 3 components of the recertification process before the 3.25-year mark. The 3 components include:
- A new disclosure check (where the process is the same as during the volunteer approval process, except it is marked as processed/completed under the recertification section of the approval page).
- A new HSC to be completed in-person (if they are using their home in a Host Home or Family Friend with at-home care capacity)
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Module 4 training, also known as recertification training, which takes 2 forms:
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The ‘live’ version of M4, which is hosted nationally on Zoom, much like M1 and M3.
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Self-certification training. This is for active, engaged volunteers for whom we have no ongoing concerns about and fulfil at least 3 of the criteria below. If a CVM wishes a volunteer to complete the self-serve version, this must be approved by the CVM’s line manager. The criteria are as follows:
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The volunteer has been actively supporting a family in the last year.
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They have engaged with extra training/volunteer events.
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The volunteer has been discussed with the wider team, to capture the view of the FST, and they feel confident in the volunteer's understanding and implementation of their role.
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The volunteer has consistently supported families over the last three years, (e.g., three or more families in that time).
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In the lead-up to the 3.25-year mark, CVMs will receive the following notifications:
- A notification 8-weeks before the 3-year-mark to encourage CVMs to start the recertification process.
- Another notification when the volunteer has reached the 3-year-mark; at this stage the volunteer enters the ‘amber zone’.
- A final notification when the volunteer has reached the 3.25 mark and they have entered the ‘red zone’ and their disclosure check has expired.
When the CVM receives the first notification they should:
- Call the volunteer, congratulating them on being involved with Safe Families for this long, and explain the recertification process to them. As part of this call, the CVM may pencil in a date to complete their ID check (and, if applicable, their HSC).
- Send an email with the information needed to apply for their disclosure check (this is the same as in the original volunteer approval process) and a link for them to book onto M4 training.
- If they are to complete the self-certify M4, they will automatically be sent instructions on how to access the self-serve version from the database, once this has been approved by the line-manager on the database.
- Upon the volunteer completing M4, the CVM will be notified automatically via the database and will need to update the training as having been completed under the recertification section on their volunteer approval page. If the volunteer has completed the self-serve version, the CVM will receive the volunteer’s answers to the questions asked during the training. The CVM should review these answers and provide any follow-up needed.
Once all 3 components of the recertification process have been completed by the CVM, they should notify their line-manager and the line-manager can press the ‘confirm recertification’ button on the database.