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HELP KIDS IN NeED
BE A VOLUNTEER!

There are many different ways you can volunteer with PCHAS to help kids
in need. Visit our Volunteer Page to learn more.

Support Us: Direct Service Volunteers for Residential Programs

Volunteers are needed to provide a variety of services to children participating in our residential programs. However, great care is given in providing volunteers with the necessary training for them to share responsibilities with staff for the supervision of children.

There are two levels of volunteers in our residential programs who provide direct service to children: Volunteers who may not supervise children and volunteers who may supervise children. All new volunteers begin their work with us in the first category and move to the second level as they complete their training and are approved for service by residential program directors and/or treatment teams, in consultation with the Volunteer Ministries Coordinator.

Volunteer Program Assistants

Volunteers Assistants are 21 years of age or older who participate in the Volunteer Application process and receive the PCHAS Volunteer Orientation. They are able to be in direct contact with children only when the children are supervised by a qualified PCHAS caregiver. They provide services to children in circumstances similar to the following:

• Helping children with homework
• Leading sports activities
• Reading with children
• Participating in small group activities
• Helping prepare meals and other household responsibilities
  
• Joining off-campus field trips
  
• Helping house parents with errands

All new volunteers serving PCHAS residential programs begin their service with PCHAS as Volunteer Assistants. By completing the required training, Volunteer Assistants may become Volunteer Caregivers and serve PCHAS in ways that allow them to supervise children. Volunteer Assistants are always serving under the direct supervision of a PCHAS staff person who is serving as a caregiver.

Click here for a complete job description.

Volunteer Caregivers

Volunteer Caregivers are volunteers who have received the required training and authorization to serve as caregivers of children. They are able to provide services similar to PCHAS staff who are caregivers. They may supervise a group of children in a group home when PCHAS staff are not present and they may transport children to activities off campus or away from the group home. Volunteer caregivers can serve in a variety of ways. Examples follow, but are not limited to:

• Provide assistance to Family Teachers or House Parents
  
• Take a group of children to the movies or out to dinner
  
• Have a mentor relationship with one child
  
• Be counted in the child/caregiver ratio
  
• Transport a child to a medical or therapeutic appointment
  
• Transport children to school or work
  
• Take children shopping for clothes

Volunteer Caregivers will be supervised by the Program Director, Assistant Director, or a Treatment Team member who will provide assignments to the Volunteer Caregiver.

Mentors
Mentors are volunteers who are matched with one child, parent or family for a long-term relationship, the purpose of which is to participate with PCHAS in developing that person’s or family’s gifts, graces and strengths.

Mentors provide a supportive and trusting relationship in which they are able to model healthy boundaries, mature attitudes and positive values. Mentors can be guides and advisors, but most often are companions who are able to walk with a child, parent or family through a season of their life. Mentors are matched with someone in the care of PCHAS by a social worker or treatment team who supervise the mentor.

Mentors communicate with their supervisors, who determine the needs of the child or family and how best to fulfill those needs. Mentors are guided by their supervisors in their relationship with the child or family with whom they are matched.

In order to qualify to be a mentor, a volunteer will have previous volunteer experience with a PCHAS program and will have the same training as Volunteer Caregivers. Mentors serve in both residential PCHAS programs and child and family PCHAS programs.

Sponsor Family

A Sponsor Family is an entire household who has volunteered to be in a trusted and faithful relationship with a specific child, and through consistent contact over a specified period of time benefits the child’s growth in social, emotional and personal development. The family takes a child “under their wing,” inviting the child into their home for family activities and celebrations. The family may have the child stay over night or for a weekend at their home. The family may take a child on vacation with them.

A Sponsor Family is required to participate in a home visit by a PCHAS social worker and to participate in pre-service training, although only one or two family members may be asked to participate. A Sponsor Family is asked to make a long-term commitment to one child. Families usually become sponsors for a PCHAS child because of a relationship one member of the family has developed with a child as a Mentor or Volunteer Assistant.