1. Vivienne Evans

4. Nearly 1.5 million adults will be significantly affected by a relative’s drug use The cost of harms they experience as a result amounts to about 1.8 billion per year The support they provide would cost the NHS and local authorities about 750 million to provide if it were not available

5.  61,000 children in care in UK  Up to 350,000 children affected by parental drug use  Up to 1.3 million affected by parental alcohol use  In 2007, local authorities spent £117 million dealing with families where substance misuse is a problem  Substance misuse linked to DV, mental health, poverty......

6. Families affected by addiction problems are important for three significant and related reasons:  Involvement of family members in the treatment of their relatives with addiction problems can enhance positive outcomes  Family members in these circumstances show symptoms of stress that merit help in their own right  Effective treatment of the parent can have positive benefits for the child  Better outcomes for children are achieved if they remain with their families

7.  Prevention and early intervention?  Harm minimisation ?  Recovery/reintegration?

8.  New language: vulnerable families  How to deliver at a time of austerity  The role of the state  Outcomes not targets  Localism  Big Society  Public Health/Education/Crime  Lack of optimism We have built a Britain not fit for our children to grow up in It is not government’s job to create happy families.

9.  Sure Start services to be maintained in cash terms – including a new investment in Sure Start health visitors  Re-focused on original purpose of improving the life chances of disadvantaged children  Encourage more community providers to enter the market We will investigate a new approach to helping families with multiple problems

10.  Coalition’s commitment to a family friendly society  Families as a resource, not a deficit  Re-balanced treatment system; recovery  Big Society Families Drugs Communities