Lifelong Links - Building lasting relationships for children in our care

We work with these young people to help them build lasting relationships. This might be by re-connecting with family they have lost touch with or making new links with family they have never met yet.

It might be by making stronger connections with the people that have been in their lives such as friends, neighbours, teachers, sports coaches or previous foster carers.

Watch the LifeLong Links video on YouTube by Family Rights Group to hear from Parice and her foster carer Nicky about their experience taking part in the Lifelong Links programme.

How we help young people

Young people sometimes want to find out more about their family history and their own lives and Lifelong Links is there to help them do this. One of our independent Lifelong Links coordinators, working with the young person, can help find safe family and friends that the young person wants to connect with and who they can turn to for support.

The aim is for young people to have a strong, stable, and consistent network of support as they leave care.

How the programme works

To take part in the Lifelong Links programme, we must have consent from the young person as well as the local authority or person who has parental responsibility for them.

Our Lifelong Links coordinators will work with the young person's current carers too, to make sure they know what is happening and to support them through the process.

Lifelong Links in Durham is part of a wider programme run through the national organisation The Family Rights Group. To find out more about them and the wider Lifelong Links programme, including more videos of people who have taken part, visit their pages at LifeLong Links - Family Rights Group.