Criteria for referring to Restore:
- Restore only supports refugees and asylum seekers. We therefore can only accept referrals of those who have previously made an application for asylum or those who have been granted Refugee Status or Limited Leave to Remain following an asylum application. (We are unable to work with economic migrants or people who have overstayed their visas for whatever reason unless they have submitted an asylum application.)
- Restore has a geographic boundary for referrals. We are only able to consider new referrals of refugees or asylum seekers who have lived in Birmingham, Smethwick or Solihull for LESS THAN TWO YEARS.
- Restore offers a volunteer befriending scheme where a volunteer is linked one-to-one with an asylum seeker or refugee. The volunteer's commitment is to aim to meet with their befriendee every 2 weeks.
- We provide a range of social activities for families, women and men.
- ‘Equipping Refugees for Work’ (employability training) is currently on hold.
- As a small organisation with limited resources we cannot respond to all needs so where possible we signpost to other services e.g. volunteer run ESOL classes, children’s centres, drop-ins for asylum seekers etc to provide additional support.
- We do not give legal advice nor are we a housing provider.
- Staff can usually ‘get-by’ in communicating with most clients who have limited English. We do not have funds for paid interpreters but occasionally we can find a volunteer who can act as an interpreter for certain languages including Arabic, Kurdish Kermanji, Dari and Farsi. We cannot offer befrienders to those who have no spoken English.
- Whilst Restore is a faith-based organisation we work with refugees and asylum seekers from any faith or none.
Referral Process:
- Please discuss this referral beforehand with your client and gain their consent to be referred.
- Your referral will be passed onto Jasmine Cullen, our Befriending Coordinator, once it has been submitted.
- Once the referral has been received, a member of staff will make contact with the client to arrange a meeting. Meetings are only ever male to male and female to female and are intentionally kept informal.
- At the meeting the staff member will assess the client’s needs and see how Restore can best support them. If appropriate, staff may signpost to other local services for further support.
Please click Submit below to complete the referral.