What is Links?
LINKS is part of our Early Help and Partnerships service. They are a targeted service that includes Intervention Practitioners and Practice Supervisors and they work directly with children, young people and young adults, who are care experienced, and their families.
They work to increase the safety of and reduce the risk of harm and exploitation to some children and young people, including those who have gone missing from home, are involved with anti-social behaviour and offending or are exposed to youth violence.
How does it support children?
Voluntary Return Home Conversations are just one example of their work. These are offered when an individual has gone missing and returned.
An Intervention Practitioner will explore if there are any actions or support that could be offered to reduce the risk of them going missing again.
Another example is when a child or young person is at risk of exploitation. A practitioner would work with the individual and offer support depending on their individual circumstances.
What other support does it provide?
Some work is educational and can help, for example, children and young people to understand and recognise the grooming process. LINKS use a Contextual Safeguarding approach – they look at where children spend time, if they may be at risk of harm and help to make those places safer.
Who do they work with?
The Contextual Safeguarding approach will mean engaging with partners in the community to assess and intervene with physical and social spaces such as making an area safer by cutting back a hedgerow or increasing lighting or working with a peer group with harmful social norms.
As one of our services LINKS works closely with the Devon Youth Justice Service, the Family Intervention Team, Bridges, Y-Smart, the Family Group Conference Service and children’s social work teams. They also work alongside the police, education and health services as well as Community Safety Partnerships, youth services, housing and district councils.
How to contact them.
Referrals are made via the Request for Support to the Front Door. To find out more information about the service, visit our website Early Help – Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership