Drug And Child ‘Tsars’ Speak Out Against Bid To Stop Addicts Having Children

Two of Scotland’s ‘tsars’ have warned against radical plans for social contracts for drug addicts that would see them agreeing not to have children until they had beaten their habit. Under proposals put forward by Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, and revealed in the Sunday Herald last week, addicts would also agree to enter drug cessation programmes. Breaking the agreement could result in services, such as free methadone, being taken away and children could be removed for good from their parents if they had to be taken into care for a certain number of months a year.

But in a growing backlash to the ‘tough love’ plans now being considered by Scottish Labour, drugs tsar Tom Wood has criticised the proposals in their current form as unworkable.

Scotland’s children’s commissioner, Professor Kathleen Marshall, also warned that the focus must remain on the welfare of the child, instead of ‘punishing’ parents by taking away their children.

Wood, the chairman of Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams (SAADAT), said that he would have concerns around the difficulties faced in trying to set up a contract with someone who leads a chaotic life and ‘in many cases literally doesn’t know what day it is’.

He added: “But I think the biggest issue I would have is it is not realistic in what sanction could you actually apply – could you or would you actually decline or withdraw medical or social care?

“I just don’t see it as being in our ethical or professional framework and that is certainly true of the medical profession, they just wouldn’t do it. So what do you do, do you just say ‘I’ll throw you on the scrapheap’?”

However, Wood said that while he was opposed to a contract which would be used as a threat to addicts, the idea of some form of agreement was worth considering.

“We could have a situation where [the agencies] sit down with an individual and look at their case  and form a joint plan, with both of them having a commitment to provide certain things within that plan,” he said.

“That kind of contract does make sense because it gives both parties a clear view of what success looks like and, in many cases for addicted persons, they need to have a vision of the future.

“You have got to build a system whereby they can clearly see these stepping stones to success.”

Scotland’s children’s commissioner said the decision to take a child into care had to be primarily based on the rights and welfare of each individual youngster.

Marshall said: “People talk about adults having a right to family life, but children have a right to family life as well. If you are ever looking at a proposal to remove a child from a family into care, you have to look at that particular case and say ‘Is that in the best interest of the child?’.

“There will be cases where that is going to be the best approach, but we must keep the decision-making process focused very firmly on the rights of the child,” she added.

Senior social workers have joined the debate, warning that more and more children are suffering neglect due to living with drug-addicted parents, but also stressing that the issue must not be reduced to ‘political soundbites’.

According to the most recent Scottish Executive figures, the number of children registered as suffering physical neglect has risen by nearly two-thirds, from 639 in 2000 to 1035 last year. The number at risk of emotional abuse rose from 235 to 376 over the same period.

Bernadette Docherty, vice-president of the Association of Directors of Social Work, said an ‘educated guess’ would be that the significant increase was due to parental drug addiction problems.

“We need to have a depoliticised debate about what as a society we believe needs to be done to help these children and their parents,” she said. “It becomes far too much of being reduced to political soundbites when we have to think what on earth are we going to do about this.”