Organisation Overview 

We are a small charity supporting parents who are unable to return to their home country with their children after an international residence dispute.

They become "stuck" in this country due to international child relocation laws and often face profound emotional, practical and financial hardship. Many lack language skills, social networks, secure immigration status, or access to housing, employment and public funds.

We help families to be safer, feel empowered and understand their legal options through our direct support services, including domestic abuse support, safety planning, access to our specialist legal network, legal information, peer support and recovery programs.

Alongside our direct support services, we advocate for improved protection and access to justice for migrant victims of domestic abuse. We raise awareness of the lived experiences and challenges faced by these families and promote research, education and policy development to improve outcomes for parents, children and families worldwide.

Role Details

The Board of Trustees is jointly responsible for the overall governance and strategic direction of the charity, its financial health, its activities, developing the organisation’s aims. All trustees should also be aware of, and understand, their individual and collective responsibilities.

 The board has 5 members however due to personal circumstances two members would like to step down. Therefore we are looking for three new board members who have professional experience in areas such as the law, HR, change management and charity governance.

Commitment to the organisation and a willingness to devote the necessary time and effort is vital. The minimum commitment is around 5 days per year.

We request that new trustees commit to at least one year on the board to give us stability, and give a notice period of at least a month to allow for recruitment and hand overs.

The role description outlines the skills and competencies we are ideally looking for. However if you have experience in family law, HR or charity governance combined with passion for our cause and the time and energy to learn we would love to hear from you.

Skills and Experience 

We are looking to recruit three trustees: a new Chair, and two other trustees. You would need to be passionate about our mission and vision and want to work in line with our mission, values and ethos.

Mission: To prevent international custody disputes and reduce their devastating impact on children and parents stuck in a foreign country by raising awareness and connecting parents to support services to meet their needs.

Vision: A world where few families go through international custody crisis but when it does happen the family have all the support they need

Values: We work with Compassion, Courage and Persistence to reach our mission! 

We are looking for Trustees with any of these experiences/ competencies: 

• Family law

• HR

• Change management

• Domestic Abuse professional

• Charity Governance / Trusteeship

• Lived Experience of DA/ international family relocation

• Fundraising - trusts and foundations

Attendance: Remote Working 

Time Commitment: Quarterly meetings plus a few hours per month. 

To apply for or express an interest in this position, please email bicenquiries@weareadvocate.org.uk