Skip to main content

Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Working in partnership with parents and carers

Find tips on how to start a conversation with parents and carers about bringing a young person with additional or support needs into the group

It’s important to work in partnership with parents and carers when volunteering with young people. As with anyone joining Scouts, take time to get to know the young person as an individual, including anything they find challenging and how you can help. 

Keep the young person at the centre of all conversations and decisions about additional support. Be positive but realistic, and set clear expectations by helping parents and carers understand how Scouts supports and includes people with additional needs.

Introduce the parent or carer to the programme and let them know what a typical section meeting looks like. This can help them think about parts of Scouts their child may particularly enjoy or find beneficial, and parts where additional support may be needed. Parents and carers may also want to consider the more adventurous activities their child may have the opportunity to do, as well as Nights Away – you may need to plan further ad hoc meetings to discuss these.

Be honest about your own knowledge and skills, and explain you're keen to learn from them, alongside your own independent learning. Ask how the young person is supported at home and at school, and discuss any strategies or approaches that could be used in Scouts. You can use the individual support plan and supporting template to document the conversation. Explain to the parent or carer how you plan to store and share information and make sure they agree to this. 

If there's been an incident involving the young person, be prepared to give full details of what happened and work with the parents or carers to identify what may have triggered it. 

Three people are sitting around an empty fire pit.

Focusing on the young person

Young people must always be at the centre of discussions and decisions about their support. Encourage the young person’s independence, where possible, within all aspects of their individual support planning and care. 

All volunteers supporting the young person in Scouts should make sure they’re aware of the young person’s method and level of communication. Young people communicate using different methods e.g. words, signs, symbols, body movements and eye pointing. 

To help make sure you're communicating well:

  • Find out how the young person communicates. Ask the young person, parent or carer and if appropriate, record communication needs on the individual support plan.
  • If the young person is supported by a Speech and Language Therapist or another professional to help their communication, consider asking for their advice. 
  • Always explain to a young person what's happening.  
  • If you need specific guidance on supporting a young person to understand their support plan, you can contact your Local Inclusion Volunteers or the Support Centre.

What if we can't agree on needs and support?

There may be situations where leaders, young people and parents or carers disagree on whether a young person has support needs, what the support needs are, or how support could be provided.  

It’s important to be positive but realistic, and to set clear expectations by helping parents or carers understand our policy and approach. Introduce the parent or carer to the programme and speak to them about what a typical section meeting looks like (as well as additional activities like Nights Away). This can help them think about the parts of Scouts that their child may particularly enjoy or find beneficial, and parts where additional support may be needed.

Many challenges can be overcome by using the conversation tips on this page, but if you need further support, you can contact your Line Manager, Local Inclusion Leads, or the Support Centre.

If you have any concerns, you should report them in the usual way to your Line Manager. For safeguarding concerns, you must follow the guidance in the Yellow Card.

Plan an appropriate time and location for the conversation to take place. Choose a neutral and comfortable space, where you can talk without interruptions.  

The initial conversation should include the relevant volunteer (usually the Section Team Leader), parent or carer and young person (if appropriate).  

Before the meeting, it may be useful to research the type of additional need(s) the young person has. Remember that each young person will be different, so avoid making any assumptions, and take the lead from the young person, parent or carer in the language they use to describe the young person’s additional needs. 

Try to put the parent or carer at ease – this is not an interview, it’s the start of an ongoing partnership to support the young person. 

Always treat everyone with dignity and respect, make sure the conversation can take place privately. Make sure privacy and confidentiality is appropriate to the age of the young person and the situation.  

Be honest about your level of knowledge and skills. You can explain you’re keen to learn from them and their young person as experts on the young person's needs. Let the parents or carers know that volunteers should only provide care that they understand and feel competent and confident carrying out.

Be positive but realistic. Help them understand what to expect from Scouts. 

Explain to the parent or carer how you plan to store and share any information you record, and make sure they’re happy with this. 

You can start the conversation with some simple introductory questions, which will help you understand more about the young person.  

  • How’re you hoping you / your child will benefit from Scouts? 
  • Do you / your child know anyone already attending our group?

You could introduce Scouts and your Group or Section. Throughout the conversation, you can explain: 

  • Scouts is run by adult volunteers.
  • Scouts is all about supporting young people’s development through fun and adventure.
  • Scouts is inclusive and we aim to support the full participation of all young people. There is a lot of flexibility within Scouts to meet individual needs.
  • What the programme and activities are like – giving the parent or carer an insight into the programme and a sense of what a typical section meeting looks like will help them give you the most relevant information about the young person's needs.
  • We aim to work closely with young people and their parents or carers to plan how to best support the young person.
  • When a young person is due to move up to the next section, it's important that Leaders of both sections meet with parents or carers to discuss how to support the young person during the transition.
  • Think about the resources available to you in your meeting place; consider how this would change if you were on a visit or Nights Away experience. 

You could also use this downloadable list of conversation starters and question tips and the individual support plan template to guide the conversation. 

Remember, this is just the start of an ongoing partnership with the parent or carer. You can discuss how to keep communication open between volunteers and parents or carers. For example, communication preferences and frequency.

You could ask if the parent or carer would like to arrange a pre-visit to the section or meeting place with the young person. You could also ask if they’d like to attend the first meeting with the young person and/or become part of the section volunteer team to support the young person directly in section meetings and at events on a regular basis. During the discussion, they may express an interest in being part of the wider volunteer team to support all young people in the section. This can be discussed further outside the discussions about the young person's support needs.

Find out the best contact details for the parent or carer during the meeting and explain who the parent or carer should contact if they have any questions. 

Agree when you’ll next meet to discuss how things are going.  

Be honest with the parent or carer – you could explain that there may be situations where the group doesn’t have the capacity or resources to meet the young person’s needs, in which case the District Lead Volunteer would try to find an alternative group. 

Remind the parent or carer of your obligations to make sure both the young person and the whole group are safe at all times. 

It’s good practice to share your notes with the parent or carer after the meeting, to make sure there is a mutual understanding. Communicate with the young person's parent or carer regularly. Check that the adjustments being made are still the most effective and supportive way of helping the young person. 

Conversation starters and question tips

Use our conversation starters and question tips to help you have conversations about a young person's support needs.

Check out our conversation starters and question tips

Individual support plan

Complete the individual support plan alongside the young person and their parents or carers. Use the plan to document the young person's needs and how your team will support them at Scouts.

Check out our page on planning individual support to help you complete the individual support plan.

Take a look at our template to see what a completed individual support plan might look like.

Download our individual support plan

Individual support plan feedback

At Scouts, we're always looking for ways to improve. We'd love to hear what you think about our individual support plan and supporting guidance. You can get in touch to share your thoughts using our online form.

Share your thoughts