Parental Substance Misuse Prepared by Joanna Manning and Anna-Joy Rickard, The Children’s Society, October 2010

Parental Substance Misuse 1.3 million 62% 100

Hidden Harm Messages 2003 report outlined the far reaching impact on children and consequences for families of parental drug misuse. Children neglected and harmed emotionally and physically – the harm often invisible. The impact spanned conception through to adulthood – fractured lives, fractured futures

Hidden Harm Recommendations Joint policy, planning and commissioning Early Identification and Recording Screening, referral and assessment Specialist service provision for children Workforce development and training for practitioners Research and Evaluation Listening to children’s voices

Hidden Harm and Beyond – Key Documents Bottling it up The effects of alcohol misuse on children, parents and families (Turning Point 2006) Drugs: protecting families and communities (Drug Strategy 2008) Joint Guidance on Development of Local Protocols between Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services and Local Safeguarding and Family Services (DfE, NTA & DH 2009) Memorandum of Understanding Working Together to Support Young Carers (ADASS/ADCS 2009)

Whole Family Messages and Parental Substance Misuse Parental drug or alcohol misuse can reduce capacity to parent effectively Children are more likely to develop behavioral problems; have low educational attainment; develop substance misuse problems Identifying and supporting adults in treatment who are parents can improve treatment outcomes Identifying and supporting parents in treatment can reduce the risk of harm to dependent children/improve outcomes

Family Life – Implications for coping and support

Key Themes Parents Closing Doors Young People Opening Doors Love, Care and Family Caring for Siblings Practices of Friendship Engaging with Professionals

Young people – opening doors Young people’s awareness of parents’ substance misuse is often accompanied by a sense of of shame and embarrassment that their family life is not normal. Sally – it’s embarrassing because all your friends have got normal parents and you haven’t … knowing that like, you’re not going to have a birthday party or you can’t invite your mate around for dinner because it’s just, it’s not appropriate and their parents won’t let them. It’s horrible, it really is.

Caring for siblings Sibling order matters; when younger siblings are parented or protected by older siblings they may not develop the same levels of knowledge or skills to manage parents’ substance misuse Sally – I do it (pay for brothers’ hair cuts) because, I, I hate to say it, my brothers get bullied, they do, because of their appearance.

Caring for siblings Older siblings often struggle to give up their role as primary carers and in consequence, often down prioritise their own needs Dena – I do need to start seeing him as my little brother …rather than like, my baby

Caring for siblings Siblings often share their parents’ substance misuse in silence. This may be linked to growing up with their parents’ substance misuse together as their “normal” Jackie – me and my brother got quite close ‘cause…we were going through the same things, so..we didn’t talk about it, but we knew what each other was thinking. We would be sitting there and Mum would come downstairs, and we would look at each other and be like “yeah she’s pissed”…..It would have been a lot more harder without my brother.

Friendships Young people appreciate the conversational space that their friends give them to talk or not talk about their experiences at home: trusted friends don’t ask direct questions all the time. Leslie – we were with each other that much that we pretty much knew what each other needed without having to be told. It’s like if I wanted a hug and a shoulder to cry on, she’d know …but if I wanted my space, she’d know.

Engaging with Professionals In the absence of early identification young people’s disclosure tends to happen at crisis points Kathy – my head of house knows. He knows through social services I think.

Engaging with Professionals Professionals’ awareness of parents’ substance misuse does not necessarily, from a young person’s perspective, translate into ‘knowing’ what this involves or how it is experienced. Aiden – They, they thought they did but they didn’t really know what was going on. Like they just knew that she was drinking but they never knew anything else…They kept saying “we know what is going on at home”.. But I was thinking “you don’t know nothing”.. That used to wind me up.

Engaging with Professionals Young people appreciate professionals who give them the space to build trust as well as the choice to talk, what to tell and at what pace. Jamie – she knows if I say I don’t know then I don’t want to talk about it yet and that’s OK.