Links with child services are weak

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