Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

38 Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacityexperiences, were less happy and had a less cohesive childhood than was reportedby adults who made up the comparison group (Velleman and Orford 2001). Theauthors note ‘that all the association between parental problem drinking and childhoodproblems might be mediated via parental family disharmony’ (p.156). The findingssuggest that it is the link with family disharmony and violence that increases the riskof harm to children of problem-drinking parents.Drug misuseDrug use is not as common as alcohol consumption. Findings from the BritishCrime Survey 2009/10 indicate that one in three (36.4%) adults in the populationhave used illicit drugs at least once, suggesting that a large proportion of the adultpopulation have had some experience of illegal drug use even if it was in the past(Hoare and Moon 2010). This is a rather smaller proportion than that noted byLeitner and colleagues (1993) who reported that at least half the adult populationaged 19–59 had tried illicit drugs at some time in their lives. Cannabis remains themost likely drug to be used (the British Crime Survey estimates 6.6% of adults usedcannabis in the last year); the next most commonly used drug was cocaine, taken by2.4% of adults (Hoare and Moon 2010).Overall, the use of illicit drugs has been falling in England and Wales for severalyears. According to the British Crime Survey 2009/10, 8.6% of the adult population(aged 16–59) of England and Wales had tried an illegal drug during the last year, afall from the figure of 11.1% found for 1996. The use of the most dangerous drugs,Class A (under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971) such as heroin and cocaine (duringthe last year), has also fallen from 3.9% in 2008/9 to 3.1% in 2009/10. Frequentillicit drug use is less prevalent, and the survey data suggested it applied to only3.3% of the population (Hoare and Moon 2010).Over the last 10 years, access to treatment for drug problems, especially heroinand to a lesser extent cocaine, has increased considerably. The development of theNational Treatment Agency (a Special Health Authority within the National HealthService) has not only ensured increased funding for existing agencies but has madesure that there is now better access to services in all parts of the country. At the timeof writing (2011), there are over 200,000 people being treated for drug problems inEngland and Wales, an increase of 4% on the previous year, and waiting times fortreatment have fallen; nearly all clients wait less than three weeks to start treatment(National Treatment Agency 2010). In England, over half (55%) of problem drugusers are currently in treatment (National Audit Office 2008, p.30).Research has also identified the co-morbidity of substance misuse and mentalillness. Three-quarters (74.5%) of users of drug services reported experiencingmental health problems (not formal mental illness); 30% experienced ‘multiple’morbidity, the co-occurrence of a number of psychiatric disorders or substancemisuse problems (Weaver et al. 2002).