Basis Young People’s project (formerly known as Isis, part of Genesis) has been supporting girls and young women in Leeds who are being sexually or criminally exploited or at medium or high risk thereof for more than 20 years.
We support all genders; we work in Leeds and Bradford
Below are some Frequently Asked Questions that we hope will help practitioners understand more about our Leeds service – please get in touch if you have any questions!
Frequently asked questions
- How do I make a referral?
You need to get the young person’s permission for the referral to be made.
Our referral form is simple and can be found below. Once you have filled it in with as much information as possible, send it to ypreferrals@basisyorkshire.org.uk (or get in touch for secure email contact details).
Young People Referral Form PDF How to Edit our Referral Form as a PDF
Young Peoples Referral Form WordDoc
You should read the Child Exploitation Practice Guidance before completion of the referral form, or you can ring us on 0113 243 0036 to discuss. If you are a social worker and you have already completed a Child Exploitation Risk Identification Tool, you can send this to ypreferrals@basisyorkshire.org.uk instead of completing our referral form.
As our service is voluntary – it is up to the young person to decide whether they want to access our services.
- Who can make a referral?
Anyone can make a referral – a young person can make a referral themselves, as can their parents or practitioners/professionals.
- Is there an age limit?
We work with young people up to 18 (or up to 24 if there is a learning difficulty)
- Which postcodes do you work with?
For Leeds, we have the capacity to work with all LS postcodes, WF10 and WF3 on an individual case management referral with all genders.
- Do I need to inform anyone else of the referral?
It should also be sent to the integrated safeguarding unit at Social Care using the email address: specialist.safeguarding@leeds.gov.uk..
If the referral has been deemed as medium to high on the risk indicator tool then a referral should be made to the Duty Children’s Social Work Team as the new protocol states that social care must make an initial assessment of the young person.
The telephone number for the Duty and Advice Team is 0113 – 376 0336
- What work do you carry out with young people?
Our specialist one to one work is made up of meetings with the young person at the place they feel most comfortable or where we can access them. We would normally see a young person once a week but this can change to meet learning styles and risk categories.
Our to one confidential sessions are made up of a selection of topics to help the young person identify that they are at risk, or involved in child sexual exploitation, including specialist resources on: understanding the grooming process, the grooming stages, different grooming models, internet safety, Sexting, pornography, equal consensual and respectful relationships (and how to identify an abusive relationship) – reducing their risks of being vulnerable and the dangers of being missing. Each intervention is tailored to the individual and reviewed on a regular basis to see whether their risk is reducing.
We maintain regular contact with the professional who has referred the young person and often attend multi agency professional meetings, child in need, child protection and strategy discussions. However the work we do is confidential so unless there was an immediate safeguarding concern we would never go into detail about what the young person had informed us that was personal to them.
- Is there a time limit on your work with the young person?
There is no time limit to the work we do. It could be done in 12 weeks or we can extend it to include additional resources and emotional support for as long as the young person feels like they need it.
- Where can I send details of any intelligence to, so I can help prevent or disrupt potential perpetrators?
Intelligence which is not urgent should be shared with the WY Police Partnership Intelligence Portal – If there is an immediate risk please call 999
- Do you work with parents?
If the young person agrees, parents are made aware if we are working with their children, although the content of our sessions are not discussed unless they specifically wants us to.
We don’t offer direct support to parents and carers but can refer them to the Safe Project (Leeds Multi Agency Hub) or PACE (Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation).
- Do you have any resources to sell?
We no longer sell our resources as there was significant evidence they were being used inappropriately. We may on occasion use these with young people, when deemed appropriate and with careful guidance only, as part of the wider package of support we offer. For primary school children we recommend Alright Charlie , accompanying workbook for young people and teacher and professionals guidance , developed with input from young people. See also Resources page on this website.
We also talk about resources that are available on our training courses. For more information on our training and resources visit our Training tab on this website. .
- Can we put Basis Young People down as a recommendation on a Section 17 or Section 47?
No – our work is completely voluntary and you must gain the young person’s permission. If it is put as part of statutory order or plan then we cannot enforce it.
For further information or if you have any questions please contact the Basis Young People team
0113 2430036 or to put through a referral please email: ypreferrals@basisyorkshire.org.uk
