Lifelong Links privacy notice

Last updated: November 2025 

What this notice is about 

Lifelong Links is a service for young people in care and care leavers. It helps find family members and other adults who are important to them and want to stay in their life.  

This could be people the young person knows well or has not seen for a while, such as family members, friends, teachers, people from faith and 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 these people. Then they will arrange a meeting called a Lifelong Links Family Group Conference so a plan. At this meeting, everyone makes a plan about how they will give support them and keep in touch.  

To provide this service, we need to process certain personal information about you.  This privacy notice explains how we do this. 

You should also read our Children’s Services privacy notice and our main privacy notice, which gives more details about your rights and how to contact us.  

What information we collect, hold and use 

We may collect: 

• name  
• date of birth  
• address  
• contact information  
• photos and/or videos.  

Where we get your information from 

We may look at personal information held about you from things like the electoral register, public records and social media platforms may be used to help find and contact family members and friends of the young person in care or care leaver. 

How we use this information 

We will use your information for things like: 

• mobility maps - these are a way of mapping a young person’s journey over time 
• family trees - a picture of family relationships over several generations  
• to contact family and friends.  

If a young person wants to get in contact with you, we will process (use) your personal information to help make that first contact.  

Our legal reasons for processing (using) your data 

Under UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA 2025) we use your data because: 

• it’s our legal obligation (the law says we must)  
• we are doing something in the public interest or as part of our official duties (public task) 
• in your vital interest (to help keep you or someone else safe) 
• in other situations where you give your consent (you say that we can).   

Other laws that apply to our services 

The other laws that apply are:

• Children Act 1989
• Children Act 2004
• Children and Families Act 2014
• Children and Social Work Act 2017
• Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (Statutory Guidance). 

Who we share your information with 

Your information may be shared with the following: 

• individuals in the child’s network 
• professionals involved in the process 
• family Rights Group 
• research Teams (with your consent) 
• Department for Education (DfE) (Aggregated statistics for evaluation). 

How we store your data 

We keep your information safe using secure systems and processes. Only staff who need access to your information can see it.  

To find out how long we keep your data, check our main privacy notice and retention schedule. 

Your rights 

You have rights over your personal data. For more details see our main privacy notice and the page about your individual rights.  

Complaints 

If you are unhappy with how we use your data, please see the council’s main privacy notice to find out how to make a complaint.