Parental Substance Misuse: An Islington Perspective

• NCJ Number: 225656
• Journal: Child Abuse Review Volume: 17 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2008 Pages: 444-453
• Author(s): Anthony Nagle; Gill Watson
• Date Published: November 2008
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

After a discussion of general practice in meeting the needs of children of drug and alcohol abusing parents and the United Kingdom’s national context for related research and guidance, this article focuses on related initiatives recently developed in Islington, England, which researchers have determined to have the highest prevalence of problem drug users in England.

Abstract

In 2003, a national inquiry into the impact of parental drug use upon children, which was conducted by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, estimated that there were between 250,000 and 350,000 children of drug-using parents in the United Kingdom. British research over the last decade has found that children growing up with parental drug or alcohol abuse are at risk of neglect, witnessing domestic violence or other violence, physical harm, social isolation, and stigma. Outcomes for such children are often poor, including emotional and behavioral difficulties, antisocial behavior, and poor educational attainment. Children removed into public care because of parental substance misuse can face similarly poor outcomes. In Islington, an assessment of this problem by the local government led to the creation of two specialist substance misuse/childcare posts within the government. They were charged with improving the care and welfare of children of drug and alcohol dependent adults and improving the adult‘s chance of being retained in effective treatment. Under the leadership of these specialists, social workers began including an identification of children with substance-using parents in initial needs assessments of families in their caseloads. This led to the matching of services to the needs of substance-abusing parents and their children. A steering group was established in July 2006 in order to oversee the development of services that would meet the needs of children with substance-abusing parents. 22 references