Parental substance misuse and child care social work: findings from the first stage of a study of 100 families

Abstract

Parental misuse of drugs or alcohol is known to be a common issue for child care social workers, yet there has been surprisingly little British research on the topic. The study reported here attempts to address this gap. All files going for long‐term allocation in four London boroughs over on average 1 year were examined (290 files). Parental substance misuse (PSM) emerged as a major feature of social work caseloads. Of the 290 cases, 100 (34%) involved concerns about parental substance misuse. The families involving substance misuse were more vulnerable on a variety of measures: the children were younger, the parents had more individual problems and the families lived in more difficult social situations. PSM cases tended to be ‘heavy end’ at the point of allocation: they accounted for 62% of all children subject to care proceedings and 40% of those placed on the child protection register. There was a fairly even spread between alcohol and drug misuse, and a number of cases involved both. Substance misuse specialists were rarely involved in working with families, primarily because parents said that they did not think that they had a problem. Suggestions for ways in which policy and practice with PSM might be improved are made in light of these findings.

Exploring the Impact of Parental Drug/Alcohol Problems on Children and Parents in a Midlands County in 2005/06

“…Forrester and Harwin (2006)'s recent study in four London Boroughs of newly-allocated social work cases found a similar proportion of substance use across the authorities, between 30 and 41%. Alcohol use was slightly more prevalent than drug use.…”

Delivering information and brief advice on alcohol (IBA) in social work and social care settings: an exploratory study

“…Alcohol-related harm has a significant impact on the day-today work of social workers and is associated with adverse outcomes for the diverse range of people they are in contact with (see Anderson, Chisholm, & Fuhr, 2009;Dance, Galvani, & Hutchinson, 2014;Forrester & Harwin, 2006). The UK National Drug and Alcohol Strategy (H. M. Government, 2010) acknowledged the key role of social work and social care (the provision of personal care, protection or social support services to people with needs arising from illness, disability, ageing or poverty) in addressing problematic alcohol use.…”

Outcomes of the Main dans la main initiative on substance-abusing expectant and new mothers in the perinatal period

“…Le risque accru de placement pour ces enfants est aussi bien documenté par la recherche. Les études comparatives indiquent clairement que les enfants nés dans un contexte de consommation maternelle sont plus susceptibles d'être retirés de leur milieu familial que les autres enfants dont la mère ne présente pas ce type de problème 13,14 . La crainte de se voir retirer la garde de l'enfant et la stigmatisation dont les femmes consommatrices sont l'objet nuisent à une intervention de qualité visant à prévenir les risques prénatals 1 .…”