Healthcare professionals and partners

The NTA were invited to provide evidence, along with other organisations, to the Munro Review of Child Protection during summer 2010.  Part one of the report, A Systems Analysis, was published on 1 October 2010.  The final report was published in May 2011.

A Systems Analysis highlights a number of facts and issues relevant to the delivery of substance misuse services:

• Overall, there were 607,000 children were referred to children's social care in 2009-10, of whom 6% became the subject of child protection plans
• Overall, there were 383,300 children receiving social care support are described as 'children in need' in 2009-10
• There were 68,207 adults receiving drug treatment in 2009-10, who had a child living with them at least some of the time
 
The review highlights that drugs services (as well as mental health and domestic  violence) frequently fail to take into account the needs of the child, wth a strong focus on the mother, and can be reluctant to make negative decisions about families. It also highlights a cautious approach to referrals, given that a small proportion became child protection cases. Munro believes that it will be essential for services, including drug treatment, to develop their confidence in making safeguarding judgements in order that they work more effectively with risk and hold more cases within services rather than referring on. In order to do this, drug treatment services will need to ensure that they have a robust approach to the identification, assessment and onward referral of substance misusing parents. In addition, they will need to ensure we make use of early intervention services, to prevent escalation of risk.

Anna Hemmings, the NTA's families' manager, has summarised the key points from A Systems Analysis in more detail.

The NTA has also published supporting information, including good practice examples, of how local protocols can work between drug and alcohol partnerships and children's services.

Half of all adults new to treatment for drug dependency are parents, so the NTA is leading initiatives to protect families, and especially children, from the negative impact of drug misuse. 

Becoming a parent is the spur for many drug users to seek treatment and stop using drugs. Much of the problem behaviour linked to drug or alcohol use can reduce a person's ability to be an effective parent. For the children involved, having a parent in treatment can be a protective factor. 

The aim of all those working with drug users who are parents is to maximise the opportunities for families with multiple problems to get the right sort of support. Treatment provides a platform for drug-dependent parents, or those living with children, to stabilise their lives – which can have a positive impact on their families. 

Joint guidance on developing local protocols between drug and alcohol treatment services and local safeguarding and family services has been developed by the NTA and the Department for Education (formerly the Department for Children, Schools and Families). 

The NTA is now leading new activity to embed good practice in working with drug-dependent parents within local treatment systems. This will encourage services to be more consistent and collaborative, and to take account of the needs of the whole family, and particularly children. 

NTA families manager Anna Hemmings says this work will include assessing the progress made in establishing local protocols among safeguarding and family services in all drug treatment partnerships. "We aim for every local area to have a protocol and accompanying programme of activity in place so that drug services work with other local services and families themselves to ensure they get the help they need," says Anna. "The NTA will support drugs partnerships in determining their local priorities for drug misusing parents, and provide good practice examples on how to improve positive outcomes for families and users."

The recovery-oriented vision to replace the current framework, Models of Care for Treatment of Adult Drug Misusers, which the NTA is developing with its partners, is an opportunity to make sure that drug treatment systems embed at a local level the idea of putting families first.

The children of drug addicts will get special help if they are at risk when their parents are receiving treatment, under a new agreement between the NTA and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

New guidance issued to local social services makes clear that drug and alcohol treatment workers can help children’s services identify vulnerable children and families. The document highlights the need for adult drug and alcohol services to work with children’s services to ensure children in families affected by drug or alcohol misuse are safe from harm and have the support they need to succeed.

In addition to safeguarding issues the document suggests that commissioners of adult drug treatment services should ensure that services adopt a ‘Think Family’ approach. 

Supporting information including good practice examples, of how local protocols can work between drug and alcohol partnerships and children's services was published in June 2011.

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The ‘Think Family’ approach was developed to improve the support offered to vulnerable children and adults within the same family. ‘Think Family' aims to secure better outcomes for children, young people and families with additional needs by co-ordinating the support they receive from children, adult and family services. 

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