Pubdate: Sun, 05 Feb 2006
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2006 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Lorna Martin, Scotland editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

CHILDREN ARE FAILED BY DRUGS POLICY

Collapse Of 11 Year Old Sparks Row As It Emerges Sheriff Ruled 
Against Request To Place Her In Care

The fierce debate over how best to protect children of drug addicts 
intensified yesterday after it emerged that a sheriff had rejected 
requests from social workers to place an 11-year-old heroin addict in care.

As blame continued to shift between different agencies, a senior 
social work source told The Observer that the drug war's youngest 
victims were being failed because the law had shifted too much 
towards protecting the rights of parents at the expense of vulnerable children.

He said child welfare officials had asked the courts to remove the 
girl, who cannot be named, from her mother for her own protection.

Initially the 11 year old and her seven-year-old sister were placed 
with foster parents in Ayrshire. However, at the beginning of January 
after an appeal from their mother, a sheriff ruled against social 
workers. The children were handed over to a close relative but were 
in daily contact with their mother - who has been a chronic heroin 
addict for more than a decade - and their father, an addict and 
violent alcoholic.

The case came to light after the girl collapsed at school and was 
taken to hospital with what was believed to be heroin withdrawal symptoms.

'Social workers are dealing with this every day,' said the source. 
'The scale of the problem in parts of Glasgow is terrifying and I 
think we have to face up to the fact that there may have been a 
tendency to concentrate too much, because of the legislation, on the 
rights of the parent.'

Following inquiries into the Orkney and Cleveland child abuse 
scandals, the primary statutory duty of social workers was switched 
from giving priority to the rights of children to helping parents 
bring up their offspring. However, US research suggests that 70 per 
cent of children who grow up with drug addicted parents become 
addicts themselves.

Last week, First Minister Jack McConnell announced a radical overhaul 
of child protection practices, saying he wanted social workers to be 
able to remove and place in care more of the estimated 50,000 
children in Scotland living with at least one addicted parent.

A spokesman for McConnell said: 'The decision to take a child from a 
drug-taking household has to be taken earlier and more often ... if 
you leave a child there, the child becomes the problem.'

But experts said they would need a huge injection of resources to 
implement such a policy. Most local authorities are in a position to 
provide alternative accommodation, such as foster care or residential 
placements, for no more than 10 per cent of youngsters living with addicts.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom