Report: Medications in drug treatment – tackling the risks to children

Adfam has launched a major new report examining the dangers to children when their parents or carers are prescribed Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) medications.

Medications in drug treatment: tackling the risks to children, looks at Serious Case Reviews, international research and media coverage of incidents of children ingesting methadone and buprenorphine, and presents findings from interviews and focus groups with a range of frontline practitioners and experts.

Adfam and Meg Munn MP are leading calls for:

•     Enhanced national learning from succession of child ingestion incidents
•     Improved awareness and data collection on children ingesting drugs prescribed for their parents/carers
•     Effective implementation of NICE guidance on protecting children when making decisions about parents’ prescriptions.

On launching the research, Adfam Chief Executive Vivienne Evans says:“Just one of these cases would be one case too many, but this research shows that they have happened with depressing regularity over the last decade. The cases are frequent and similar enough that we should be much louder and more honest about the risks of methadone to children. We need a more proactive and nationally coordinated plan to tackle these risks, rather than waiting for every area in the country to experience a tragedy before anyone takes action.

Medications and recovery aren’t mutually exclusive and we’re very supportive of substitution treatment. However, safeguarding should be first and foremost in professionals’ minds when working with parents who use drugs and alcohol, and the report suggests this isn’t always the case.”