Looking for the new Superheroes – Are you ready to ELBA?

It’s the time of year when there are frequent sightings of superheroes. Be they cricketers, cyclists, swimmers or any other kind of sports person, the summer is the season when we can expect a new crop of this year’s super-humans. When it’s an Olympics year, the numbers increase of course. Personally, I think the real sporting superheroes come into sight when the Paralympics start. Mind you, standing in line for the accolade has to be the judo and fencing competitors who train for four years then get knocked out in 45 seconds, and still say “I’ll be back in four years’ time and I’ll do better”. That takes some bottle.

However, I was reading about a different kind of superhero. Barnado’s have published a report showing that not enough young people in care are getting access to independent mentoring. This mentoring – by so-called independent visitors – is provided by unpaid volunteers who work with and support a young person over a period of years, and build up long lasting relationships of trust that a young person can rely on as they move placements or have to deal with difficult transitions. The Barnado’s report suggests only 3% of looked after learners are getting such support, and there is a waiting list.

I am not surprised that it is hard to find such volunteers. Here at ELBA we have much experience of mentoring – our Mentoring Works programme celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This programme matches volunteer mentors from business with young people from Year 10 or Year 12 for an academic year and they work through a structured set of subjects and issues. The students get a lot out of it – and so do the mentors. It is a big commitment on both sides and we do not underestimate how difficult it can be to encourage people with busy business lives to make the commitment for a whole year.

So I can see that for the independent visitors to make a commitment to a looked after young person for a period of years is something of a much higher order. That takes a degree of commitment and selflessness that should be celebrated. As Barnardo’s chief executive Javed Khan said “Every single child needs an adult they can trust, who will be there for them and stay by their side no matter what life throws their way”.

So as we hand out the gold medals this summer, let’s put a few towards to the volunteer mentors who are making such a big commitment to the young people they work with. And why not give them a superhero badge while we are it. Their special power? Changing young peoples’ lives.