Vulnerable families in East Dunbartonshire are to benefit from £150,000 of funding for an intensive family support service. The money will be used by Addaction, the UK’s leading specialist drug and alcohol treatment charity and has been awarded by Corra Foundation’s Partnership Drugs Initiative.
Christine McCauley, Addaction Service Manager, said: “We will be working with around 25 to 30 families each year where there are children up to the age of five who are being affected by parental substance misuse. Often these families end up being fairly chaotic, which means the safety and well-being of the children may not be a priority. Most of our support will be very practical, working in family homes establishing routines, introducing boundaries, promoting consistency and improving parenting skills. We will also support pregnant women, educating them on the impact of substance misuse on their unborn babies and ensuring they attend ante-natal and relevant health appointments. Together with parents we will develop a recovery plan to address their substance misuse with interventions including relapse prevention, triggers and coping skills. By working with whole families as well as individual family members the aim is to get families to a stage where they are functioning well and can engage with other services in the area, which is great for their children in the longer term.”
The funding is for a three year period, and will help pay for the three members of staff who will run the project. Within East Dunbartonshire, the project is jointly funded by the Alcohol and Drug Partnership and Children and Families Social Work reflecting positive partnership working at a strategic level. The approach is based on successful work by Addaction in Glasgow which is now being extended to cover east Dunbartonshire.
Mary Craig OBE, Chief Executive of Corra Foundation, said: “Everyone agrees that children should have the best start in life, and be able to grow up feeling safe. For some children this isn’t their experience, and the work Addaction will be doing in East Dunbartonshire will help change that. Working with families in their own home means that really practical change can be made that makes life better for everyone. It’s great to see Addaction using their experience from work in Glasgow to give local children in East Dunbartonshire the best possible chance in life.”
This is Addaction’s second award from the Foundation’s Partnership Drugs Initiative, bringing the total support to just over £380,000.
