Children at risk as one in ten Scottish fathers admits abusing drugs

Published on Wednesday 6 January 2010 21:34

A DAMNING report has revealed that more than one in ten fathers in Scotland is abusing drugs.

The study shed light on the scale of what experts say is the growing problem of children being brought up by drug-abusing parents, and it led to calls for the Scottish Government to hold an urgent inquiry.

Eleven per cent of fathers and nearly 6 per cent of mothers were found to have taken drugs within the previous year, according to academics at the University of London.

The statistics, contained in a report for Scottish ministers, also revealed that parents in Scotland topped the UK's drug-abusing league table.

In England, 9.2 per cent of fathers and 4.7 per cent of mothers admitted taking drugs; in Wales, 9.2 per cent of fathers and 3.5 per cent of mothers abused drugs within the past year; while in Northern Ireland, the figures were far lower – 4.7 per of fathers and 1.9 per cent of mothers.

A string of tragic cases in recent years have highlighted the dangers faced by thousands of children living with drug-addicted parents and other adults – and prompted demands for social services to do more to protect vulnerable youngsters.

Toddler Brandon Muir, aged 23 months, was killed at the hands of his mother's heroin-addicted partner, Robert Cunningham, in Dundee in 2008.

In 2005, two-year-old Derek Doran died after drinking heroin substitute methadone at his East Lothian home.

Danielle Reid, five, who was unwanted by her drug-addict mother, was killed by the mother's boyfriend, Lee Gaytor, and her body thrown into the Caledonian Canal in 2002.

Yesterday's report follows recent estimates by Glasgow University that between 40,000 and 50,000 Scottish children are living with drug-addicted parents.

One of the country's leading drug-policy experts called on the Scottish Government to launch a review into the problem of parental drug abuse.

Neil McKeganey, professor of drug misuse research at the University of Glasgow, said:

"In the light of the figures, we need a wide-ranging inquiry into how we are tackling the problem of parental drug use in Scotland, how well placed our social work services are to meet the needs of children within these families and how we are going to reduce the toll of illegal drug use."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Our national drugs strategy makes clear ministers' commitment to turning around the damage that drug misuse has caused for too long in many of our communities.

"We aim to underpin the strategy by investing a record 28.6 million in drug treatment services next year.

"We continue our work to strengthen the protection of our young people from harm, including implementing a specific action plan to improve support."