Up to 1,000 teenagers considered at risk of criminality because of truancy, drug use, family breakdown or other warning signs will be put into so-called family intervention projects. They will be required to sign a contract governing their behaviour and accept help such as drug treatment. Refusal to co-operate will leave the teenager open to an Asbo.
Looking at the Drug Strategy, it says:
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) leads on work to prevent substance misuse among young people and on family-based interventions. Within this work, families will be supported and strengthened, so that they can build young people’s resilience and reduce the harms caused by substance misuse by:
- providing better information to parents and other carers to strengthen their role in preventing young people’s substance misuse;
- where appropriate, involving families in the treatment of young people and other family members; and
- developing additional support for families at risk, drawing on learning from a range of pilot programmes.
Neither the strategy or action plan mentions the use of Asbo’s except in relation to those already convicted of drug offences.
Filed under: drug strategy, drug treatment , family intervention
[...] first was the one that generated the headlines, working with up to 1,000 of the most challenging and problematic young people every year. They [...]