1. Jim Orford, on behalf of AFINet project participants
Do Governments recognise the needs of affected family members (AFMs)? First indications from an AFINet project
Jim Orford, on behalf of AFINet project participants
To be presented at: Addiction & the Family International Network (AFINet):
1st International Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Session 1, , Friday 9th November 2018

2. A Three Stage Project
Stage 1: Examining relevant policy documents; for example, health and social policy documents.
Stage 2: Identification, enumeration and categorisation of services, specific and generic, providing help for AFMs, and
Stage 3: A more detailed survey of a representative sample of those services.

3. Countries and documents
NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS
COMMENTS
South Africa 2
Both from Western Cape area (1 drugs only)
Plus a previous analysis of 3 national documents
India 1
National
Brazil 3
Includes 2 drugs only
Mexico 15
Includes 5 regional
Germany 7
1 national covers all addiction incl. gambling; 6 regional
Irish Republic
covering 3 periods incl. current policy
Netherlands
Several
Summary of several documents, mainly local (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc.) UK 5
3 UK (1 alcohol, 1 drugs, 1 gambling),
1 Wales, 1 Northern Ireland)

4. Which Documents?
Category 1: Government policy documents on alcohol and/or drugs and/or/gambling
Category 2: Key documents on alcohol and/or drugs and/or/gambling policy produced by bodies set up by Government or working closely with Government.
Category 3: Other documents, not principally about alcohol/drug/gambling, but which contain a section or theme which is specifically about substance- or gambling-AFMs

5. Overall there is very limited recognition of ‘affected family members’
1. No mention of AFMs at all.
2. Mentioned in name only
3. Mentioned but AFMs in general remain largely peripheral to the document’s main concerns
4. Mentioned but not followed through
5. Mentioned: mostly children who are the focus

6. There are good examples of supporting family members as a priority Example A: Substance Misuse Strategy for Wales
The Strategy is structured around four Priority Action Areas of which ‘Supporting and protecting families’ is one
A Figure in the Executive Summary shows ‘Support for Families and Carers’ as a main element of relevance to all points on a continuum from education/prevention to harm minimisation to treatment to aftercare to recovery
Inclusive: adults too although children still biggest priority
Harm is a central idea in this document, appearing in the title and repeated often (although, interestingly, ‘public health’ as a concept is not)

7. Example B: Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery - A health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland
The most recent Irish National Drugs Strategy had considerable input from the National Family Support Network
From the outset the impact on families is acknowledged
This is seen in both the vision and five main objectives of this strategy
Throughout the document the involvement of family members in supporting the rehabilitation of a service using relative and in the design and delivery of services is emphasised

8. Points to Take Forward We should:
Look for good examples of family-positive government statements
Understand why most government statements are not family-positive
Be emphasising impact on children