Lifelong Links is a service for young people in care and care leavers, which aims to identity and engage relatives and other supportive adults who are important to them, and who can make a life-long commitment to that young person. This could be people the young person knows well or has not seen for a while (for example, friends, teachers, faith & community groups, previous foster carers) and even relatives that they have not yet met!

A trained Lifelong Links coordinator will work with the child or young person, to try and find the people they have identified, and arrange a meeting called a Lifelong Links Family Group conference so a plan can be made setting out how everyone can continue to support them and remain in touch.

In order to provide this service, we need to process certain personal information about you.

What personal information do we need for these purposes?

The personal information held about you on databases such as the electoral register, public records and social media platforms may be accessed and used for the purpose of locating and contacting family members and friends of the young person in care.  This may include name, date of birth, address, contact information, photos and/or videos.

How we will use your personal information:

We will use your information for purposes such as mobility mapping, family trees and contacting family and friends.   

If you are an individual a young person wishes to make contact with, we will initially process your personal information for the purposes of making contact. 

Lawful basis for processing your personal information.

We require a lawful reason to process your information. As such, the Lifelong Links Service is relying on Article 6.1(e) Public Task.

Where will we store your information?

Your information will be held securely and will not be disclosed to anyone other than those stated above without your permission, unless we have a legal reason to do so, for example disclosure is necessary to protect a person from suffering significant harm or necessary for crime prevention or detection purposes.

Sharing your personal information

If you have been identified as someone who a young person wishes to make contact with, the Council may share your personal information with the young person and their network to assist in the development of activities such as creating a family tree. Your contact details will not be shared with the network without your agreement but will be held on the Childrens Services secure database on the child’s file. 

We will only use your information for family finding and the Lifelong Links process and we will not share your personal information with anyone unless we ask your permission, or are legally required to do so, for example where it is necessary to protect a person from significant harm or to prevent crime. 

Keeping your personal information

Your personal information will be kept in line with data protection laws. 

Your Individual Rights

To learn more about your Individual Rights, or how to raise a concern, please go to our 

General Privacy Notice