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Families. Vivienne Evans. Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The numbers. Nearly 1.5 million adults will be significantly affected by a relative’s drug use The cost of harms they experience as a result amounts to about 1.8 billion per year
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Families Vivienne Evans
The numbers • Nearly 1.5 million adults will be significantly affected by a relative’s drug use • The cost of harms they experience as a result amounts to about 1.8 billion per year • The support they provide would cost the NHS and local authorities about 750 million to provide if it were not available
The numbers • 61,000 children in care in UK • Up to 350,000 children affected by parental drug use • Up to 1.3 million affected by parental alcohol use • In 2007, local authorities spent £117 million dealing with families where substance misuse is a problem • Substance misuse linked to DV, mental health, poverty ......
THE POLICY DRIVERS Families affected by addiction problems are important for three significant and related reasons: • Involvement of family members in the treatment of their relatives with addiction problems can enhance positive outcomes • Family members in these circumstances show symptoms of stress that merit help in their own right • Effective treatment of the parent can have positive benefits for the child • Better outcomes for children are achieved if they remain with their families
What does family support mean? • Prevention and early intervention? • Harm minimisation ? • Recovery/reintegration?
Key challenges • New language: vulnerable families • How to deliver at a time of austerity • The role of the state • Outcomes not targets • Localism • Big Society • Public Health/Education/Crime • Lack of optimism We have built a Britain not fit for our children to grow up in It is not government’s job to create happy families.
Spending review • Sure Start services to be maintained in cash terms – including a new investment in Sure Start health visitors • Re-focused on original purpose of improving the life chances of disadvantaged children • Encourage more community providers to enter the market We will investigate a new approach to helping families with multiple problems
Opportunities • Coalition’s commitment to a family friendly society • Families as a resource, not a deficit • Re-balanced treatment system; recovery • Big Society Drugs Communities Families