Drugs: protecting families and communities

The strategy can be download here. I’m going to focus on what the strategy says about children and young people’s services

Preventing harm to children, young people and families affected by drug misuse

The strategy says the government’s key actions for the period of the strategy will be to:

• Ensure prompt access to treatment for all drug-misusing parents with a treatment need, with parents who are problem drug users and whose children are at risk having rapid access, and all assessments taking account of the needs of the family.
• Deliver a package of interventions for families at risk, to improve parenting skills, helping parents to educate their children about the risks of drugs, supporting families to stay together and breaking the cycle of problems being transferred between generations, drawing on learning from innovative programmes and providing intensive interventions where needed.
• Support kin carers, such as grandparents caring for the children of substance-misusing parents, by exploring extensions to the circumstances in which local authorities can make payments to carers of children classified as ‘in need’, backed up by improved information for carers and guidance for local authorities.
• Support parents with substance misuse problems so that children do not fall into excessive or inappropriate caring roles.

The government set out the risk factors which may make young people more vulnerable to having problems with drugs (and they include alcohol and volatile substances in their definition) and say this allows them to provide targeted support.

They then move on to say:

We also know more about what works in preventing harm to children and young people. Specific targeted interventions which have been shown to contribute to reduced substance misuse and improved wider outcomes include:

• early intervention targeting those most likely to develop substance misuse problems, based on predictive factors and routine screening and assessment;
• drug and alcohol education programmes delivered by teachers trained to use normative, life-skills based approaches, and supported by wider communications campaigns and by parental and community involvement;
• interventions and intensive support with at-risk families, to build independent living, parenting and monitoring skills and to support them to sustain stable accommodation;
• individually-tailored programmes for specific vulnerable groups, such as young offenders;
• reducing absenteeism, developing school-based social work programmes, and inclusive school policies to maintain engagement with young people who are most at risk.

They say there were two strong messages from the consultation:

1. Parents wanted more support to help educate their children; and
2. Young people wanted access to more positive activities.

The Approach

The strategy says there will be a sharper focus on prevention and early intervention.

Our new approach will emphasise family support, intervening earlier with families at risk, such as those where children may experience harm as a result of parental substance misuse, providing targeted youth support for vulnerable young people in all areas and providing effective treatment for those who do develop problems. We will take a whole-family approach, intervening to meet the needs of the entire family, involving the family in the planning and process of treatment, extending family interventions and introducing better support for parents to access drug treatment.

They say there will be 4 elements that will back up this approach:

• A new package for families:
  • Support to help build young people’s resilience and reduce the harms
  • Preventing intergenerational harm
• Mainstreaming Prevention
  • Reinforcing the role of the school in delivering effective substance misuse education
  • Allowing local prioritisation of substance misuse through PSA 14
  • Making sure the NSF for Children is applied
  • Early intervention through schools and youth services
  • Improving targeted support for young people
  • Reducing supply through point of sale enforcement activities
  • Improving access to programmes such as Positive Futures
  • Supporting activities which make young people feel included in their communities
• Improving Treatment
  • Workforce development and an outcome based approach
  • Improving transition between services (young people/adult, secure/community)
  • Strengthen links between treatment and mental health services
  • Involving young people, parents and carers in planning and designing treatment
• Building the Evidence Base
  • A review of the gaps will inform the planning of the government’s research programme which will cover education, prevention and treatment

As far as I can see there isn’t anything in the strategy about the role of Ofsted that some of the media had been briefed on.

Public information campaigns, communications and community engagement

The government’s key actions will be:

• Extend the use of FRANK to provide access to support and interventions, to support local campaigns and school-based education, and to target key audiences.
• Improved support and information for parents. We will bring together a partnership of leading organisations pledging to support and provide information for parents.
• Develop better community-based communications to build community confidence and engagement in the work being done to tackle drug misuse.

The strategy says:

Young people need credible, balanced information about the risks posed by drugs, which complements drug education delivered in school and other settings. Parents need information to build knowledge, to provide reassurance and to develop the confidence to address drug use issues within the family. Communication also plays a key role in the community, providing reassurance and strengthening confidence and resilience, where communities are aware of the action that is being taken to tackle drug dealing and drug-related crime.

The Approach

The DCSF, Home Office and Department of Health will:

• Bring together a partnership of leading young people’s and parents’ organisations to engage and communicate with parents.
• Target parents – particularly those whose children may be at increased risk – to give them the facts about drugs and their use.
• Use a mix of media and technologies to talk to young people about the risks and effects of drug use under the Frank branding.
• Commission strategic research with young people and stakeholders to develop an evidence base for a campaign targeting under-18s about alcohol.
• Following completion of the DCSF review of drug education, FRANK activity will be developed to complement wider drug education objectives.
• Develop Frank as a portal for young people to access the drug treatment or targeted support that they need.

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