New plans announced today by Health and Social Care
Secretary will help identify
at-risk children more quickly, and provide them with rapid
access to support and advice.
The package of measures is backed by £6 million in joint
funding from the Department of Health and Social Care and
the Department for Work and Pensions. It is designed to
help an estimated 200,000 children in England living with
alcohol-dependent parents.
The measures include:
- fast access to support and mental health services for
children and their families where there is a dependent
drinker
- quicker identification of at-risk children, including
those undertaking inappropriate care responsibilities
- the provision of outreach programmes to get more
parents successfully through addiction treatment
- early intervention programmes to reduce the numbers of
children needing to go into care
Local authorities will be invited to bid for funding by
coming up with innovative solutions based on local need,
with priority given to areas where more children are
affected. Public Health England will be responsible for
working with the funded areas to monitor progress.
The package of interventions, totalling up to £6 million,
includes:
- a £4.5 million innovation fund for local authorities to
develop plans that improve outcomes for children of
alcohol-dependent parents
- £1 million to fund national capacity building by
non-governmental organisations
The new funding follows government investment last year of
£500,000 to expand national helplines for children with
alcoholic parents.
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
The consequences of alcohol abuse are devastating for
those in the grip of an addiction–but for too long, the
children of alcoholic parents have been the silent
victims. This is not right, nor fair.
These measures will ensure thousands of children affected
by their parent’s alcohol dependency have access to the
support they need and deserve.
Some things matter much more than politics, and I have
been moved by my Labour counterpart Jon Ashworth’s
bravery in speaking out so honestly about life as the
child of an alcoholic. I pay tribute to him and MPs with
similar experiences across the House who have campaigned
so tenaciously to turn their personal heartache into a
lifeline for children in similar circumstances today.
The Health and Social Care Secretary has also appointed a
dedicated minister with specific responsibility for
children with alcohol-dependent parents. will lead this work in
addition to his role as public health minister.
Public Health Minister Steve Brine said:
All children deserve to feel safe—and it is a cruel
reality that those growing up with alcoholic parents are
robbed of this basic need.
Exposure to their parent’s harmful drinking leaves
children vulnerable to a host of problems both in
childhood and later in life—and it is right that we put a
stop to it once and for all.
I look forward to working with local authorities and
charities to strengthen the services that make a real
difference to young people and their families.
