Hidden harm : responding to the needs of children of problem drug users

188 Pages·2003·10.3 MB·English

by  Great Britain. Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs

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Six key messages from the Inquiry 3
Prevention Working Group members and contributors 4
Introduction 7
Summary and recommendations
Chapter 1 Estimates of the scale of the problem 19
Key findings 20
Number of affected children in England and Wales 25
Number of affected children in Scotland 26
Chapter 2 The impact of parental problem drug use on children 29
Growth and development 30
Conception to birth 31
From birth onwards 34
Chapter 3 The voices of children and their parents 45
Chapter 4 Surveys of specialist drug agencies, maternity units and
social work services 51
Chapter 5 The legal framework and child protection arrangements 57
The Children Acts 58
Child protection arrangements 58
The current child protection system in practice 60
Chapter 6 Recent relevant developments in Government strategies,
policies and programmes 63
England 64
Wales 67
Scotland 68
Chapter 7 The practicalities of protecting and supporting the children
of problem drug users 71
How can services work together better? 72
Maternity services 73
Priman/ health care 74
Contraception and planned pregnancy 76
Early years education and schools 77
Social services; Children and fannily services 79
Fostering, residential care and adoption 81
Specialist drug and alcohol services 82
Specialist paediatric and child and adolescent mental health services 84
Specialist children's chanties and other non-statutory organisations 85
Police 85
Courts and prisons 86
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Chapters Conclusions 89
Appendix Questionnaires 93
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Appendix 2 Non-statutory services dedicated to helping children of problem
drug users 103
Further reading 106
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Sixii qoiry
We
estimate there are between 250,000 and 350,000 children
of problem drug users in the UK - about one for every problem
drug user.
* Parental problem drug use can and does cause serious harm
to children at every age from conception to adulthood.
Reducing the harm to children from parental problem drug
use should become a main objective of policy and practice.
Effective treatment of the parent can have major benefits for
the child.
By working together, services can take many practical steps to
protect and improve the health and well-being of affected children.
The number of affected children is only likely to decrease when
the number of problem drug users decreases.