20,000 Children Living With Parents Addicted to Drugs
Tanya Thompson, Home Affairs Corespondent
Originally published in The Scotsman, July 25, 2001
At least 20,000 children in Scotland are living with parents addicted to hard drugs, a shocking new report has claimed.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow found that thousands of youngsters were at risk of violence, neglect and even death from parents who are high on heroin, cocaine and amphetamines.
Experts last night called for a "root-and-branch" overhaul of social services in Scotland following publication of the report.
Professor Neil McKeganey, from the Centre for Drug Misuse Research, said children were "slipping through the net" because drug agencies refused to report bad parents.
He said: "The drug services are not passing on information because they don't want to breach their clients' confidentiality.
"They see their responsibility to the parent, not the child," he claimed. "They are aware that the welfare of the children is not being served."
Last year, a High Court judge criticised social workers at Glasgow City Council for failing to realise that a five-year-old girl had been left to live in squalor because of her mother's heroin addiction.
The court heard that a social worker who visited the house did not notice the girl had a plaster cast on her right leg for months, despite alerting the SSPCA when they discovered a monkey in the house.
Karen Leask, of Easterhouse, Glasgow, and her boyfriend, James Barr, were each jailed for five years after admitting neglect. The judge, Lord MacLean, said the couple—both heroin addicts—had committed a revolting crime.
Last night, Sandra Brown, an Edinburgh child abuse expert, called for radical changes to the system, saying drug agencies were breaking the law by failing to report the abuse.
She said: "The law needs to be tightened up so these children get the protection they deserve.
"Every week we hear of another horror story where a youngster has been abused because the parent is high on drugs.
"If drug workers are coming across neglect, they have a moral duty to report it."
Ms Brown, who runs a children's charity and bullying helpline, blamed government cutbacks for the inadequacies.
She said: "They have reduced the number of health visitors who can pick up on this kind of abuse.
"These are the people at the coalface who see the extent of the violence against children. They desperately need the resources to be able to do their job properly."
According to the report, children were exposed to illegal drug use on an everyday basis and were taken with their parents to buy drugs.
An estimated 10,000 children in Glasgow alone are living within homes where one or both parents have a serious drug problem.
The study was based on recovering heroin addicts who were interviewed about the effect drugs had on their children's upbringing. The majority of the addicts were female—52 percent—and many of them had been taking illegal drugs for nearly ten years.
"Left alone, these children are becoming the casualties of their parents' drug use," states the report.
"The current policy of trying to support children within addict families carries considerable risks that the children's own lives will be ruined and, in some cases, lost as a result of their parents' drug abuse."
Researchers found that the youngsters had been deprived of their own childhood because they were forced to look after siblings. Few of them had any chance of an education and they found themselves trapped in a cycle of drugs, violence and crime.
"My eldest son had bruises on the side of his face and I think it was my partner that had hit him," said one of the addicts.
"I was too out of my face to notice."
According to the report, children were caught up in their parents' drug debts and were threatened by dealers as a way of recovering the money.
Last month, a drug addict was put on probation for three years after a baby in her care was scarred for life when a hot iron fell into her cot.
The infant suffered serious burns to her face because her carer was high on drugs.
The Scottish executive is currently drawing up a list of guidelines which will encourage agencies to share information about child welfare.
A range of organisations will take part in the project, including social workers, voluntary groups and the Crown Office. Details are expected to be published in the autumn.
