A lack of co-ordination between substance misuse and mainstream children’s services is hampering attempts to meet the needs of young people with substance misuse problems, new research claims.
Substance misuse agencies find it particularly difficult to engage with social services and child and adolescent mental health teams, a government-funded report finds.
The study, by Turning Point and Addaction, calls on the government to ensure specialist substance misuse provision for young people is not lost within the wider Every Child Matters agenda.
It also finds that the voluntary sector was involved in the planning of substance misuse services in only one in 10 areas.
Rebecca Cheshire, Addaction’s young people’s policy and practice manager, said the sector’s innovation and expertise should be used more frequently.
Developing the Evidence Base: Young People with Substance Misuse Problems from www.addaction.org.uk
Links with child services are weak
January 19, 2006 in Substance misuse
More from Community Care
Related articles:
Job of the week
Featured jobs
Employer Zone
‘Solutions can’t be scripted here – you have to be creative’
Putting a team around the social worker to make a difference to families
How working in residential care enables staff to build one-on-one relationships with young people
‘We will always challenge ourselves to transform our services to improve outcomes for children and families’
‘It’s our job is to observe the child, find their voice and be their advocate’
Employer zone – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters
Community Care Inform
Latest stories
‘Why only specialist child protection teams will tackle the annual child death toll’
Frontline’s social work qualification rates lower than other fast-track schemes’, data shows
‘Considerable investment’ in social work helps twice inadequate-rated council rise to ‘good’
Cafcass ‘in serious jeopardy’ regarding social work staffing due to pay constraints
Comments are closed.