The Early Intervention and Youth Support Service
The Early Intervention Family Support Service offer early support for children, young people and their families and aim to prevent the need for longer term and more costly and complex intervention. Within the team we have specialisms such as prevention and education around knife crime and exploitation and we support families affected by domestic abuse.
What we do?
The team support children, young people and their families to reduce the likelihood of coming into contact with the criminal justice system, improve better outcomes and keep communities safe.
The Early Intervention Targeted Support Team is made up of five strands of work:
Anti-Social Behaviour
The support and intervention offered to young people and their families includes home visits and working with young people to offer support and services to help move them away from committing anti-social behaviour. We work in partnership with Neighbourhood Policing Teams and partners across the county to reduce the likelihood of young people entering the criminal justice system. We work in partnership to help keep children, young people and our communities safer. We have a single point of contact within schools offering prevention and intervention advice, guidance to staff and act as a trusted adult to young people to let us know is they feel unsafe.
Domestic Abuse
Support and intervention offered to victims and their children by our qualified Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) and Children’s Domestic Abuse Advocates (CDAA). This includes telephone check ins, completing DASH Assessments (Domestic Abuse Stalking and Harassment), Safety planning, giving advice and guidance, completing non-molestation orders, harassment warnings and help with signposting to legal services. The team offer 1:1 support at home or in a safe space in the community giving advice on managing parental conflict, contact arrangements and practical parenting strategies. We offer support work for children and young people and free online support workshops.
Youth Violence Intervention Unit (YVIU)
The team works with young people who are at risk of harm in their communities both from other people and from the choices they make. The team work with young people and parents/carers providing support and knowledge around knife crime and exploitation and how to reduce risk of harm.
Interventions include knife and weapons education looking at risks, ripple effect and consequences of carrying a knife. What is child exploitation and the impact now and later in life. Managing and understanding emotions, healthy and unhealthy friendships and relationships. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and exploring how a young person’s ACEs can impact them now and in the future. We offer support to parents and work within a multi-agency partnership to safeguard young people and manage and assess risk and harm.
Missing Persons Unit (MPIU)
The team works with young people who are at risk of harm in their communities both from other people and from the choices they make. The team work with young people and parents/carers providing support and knowledge around knife crime and exploitation and how to reduce risk of harm. We also have a dedicated Pathway for Girls (VAWG) , supporting girls who at risk of Child Exploitation linked to Violence and Weapons.
Interventions include knife and weapons education looking at risks, ripple effect and consequences of carrying a knife. What is child exploitation and the impact now and later in life. Managing and understanding emotions, healthy and unhealthy friendships and relationships. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and exploring how a young person’s ACEs can impact them now and in the future. We offer support to parents and work within a multi-agency partnership to safeguard young people and manage and assess risk and harm.
Prison Intervention Project (PIP)
The Prison Intervention Project (PIP) is a multi-agency project which works to break the cycle of offending. It offers a holistic intervention for children who have a parent or sibling serving a prison sentence.
The project provides children with an opportunity to talk about their feelings and develop strategies to manage complex emotions. It helps the child to understand the process of imprisonment and how this may affect them.
The support is for a maximum of 16 weeks and is child-focused offering a safe place for the child to explore and share their emotions, feelings and uncertainties. This is tailored to the individual needs of the child and their family.
The Prison Intervention Project team work alongside partner agencies to ensure the best possible outcomes for the child and their families.
Referrals can be made by a professional working in the following organisations and teams:
- Integrated Offender Management (IOM)
- Management of Sexual or Violent Offenders (MOSOVO)
- Probation
- Youth Justice Service (YJS)
The Team
Please see our organisational structure for more details about who makes up our team
If you are a professional and looking for more information and details of how these services can be accessed please click here.
If you are a parent/ carer, family member or young person looking for more information about how the Early intervention and youth work team can support you, please click here.
For more information or if you have any questions about the sessions please email us earlyinterventionteam@northantspfcc.gov.uk
To download our latest annual report and impact statement, please click here
