ROUTES Somerset

About this service:

ROUTES is focused on tackling Serious Youth Violence (SYV) and Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) across the county of Somerset.

The ROUTES service is delivered with the hope of “Providing young people with an alternative pathway”.

ROUTES deliver a relationship based, trauma informed, one to one intervention to children, young people and young adults who are at risk of Serious Youth Violence (SYV) and Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE).

This service has a clear remit of supporting children and young people where there are known risk/concerns of Serious Youth Violence and child criminal exploitation specifically through County Lines (Where gangs and organised crime networks groom and exploit children to sell drugs. Often these children are trafficked to travel across counties, and they use dedicated mobile phone ‘lines’ to supply drugs).

ROUTES is not a preventative service and only supports those young people where there are significant concerns and risks linked to criminal exploitation.

The service is open to children and young adults of all genders and support young people up to the age of 24.

Barnardo’s ROUTES have an additional service located in Bristol which has a focus on supporting children and young people where there are risks/concerns around peer on peer violence/association (often referred to as gang affiliations), knife crime and criminal exploitation. Information can be found here: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/services/routes-bristol

We encourage all parents, young people and professionals to call and talk through any possible referrals prior to making one on 0117 9349726.