Notice: Surrey Appropriate Adult Service Seeks Volunteers

Published on: 5 Feb, 2020
Updated on: 3 Feb, 2020

Are you looking for a challenge? Do you have some spare time? Do you want to give something back to your community? Is justice important to you and do you like to see fair play?

If your answer is ‘yes’ to any of the above, you may want to volunteer as an appropriate adult.

The Surrey Appropriate Adult Volunteer Service (SAAVS) offers support to vulnerable adults and young people who find themselves detained in police custody.

Being an appropriate adult is a challenging, fulfilling and rewarding role.

The service SAAVS offers is for 24 hours, 365 days per year and each volunteer owns a regular weekly slot of between six and eight hours.

Volunteers don’t need previous knowledge of legal procedures or social work.

The role is not to provide legal advice but to offer impartial support and be a friendly face in the absence of a family member or carer to people who may be feeling frightened, bewildered, and confused in an unfamiliar situation.

Appropriate adults are on call at times to suit them. They must be available to answer a call to custody in a swift and professional manner and have access to reliable transport.

All sorts of people become appropriate adults and bring different skills to the team.

Two things they all have in common is an excellent ability to communicate and a willingness to donate their free time to SAAVS.

To join the team of unsung heroes call for a chat on 01483 790311 or visit saavs.org, where you will learn more about SAAVS and find a registration form for completion.

Introductory two-day training sessions for new volunteers are planned for March 14 and 21, June 20 and 27 and October 3 and 10.