SAFEguarding children in Substance exPosed fAmilies by supporting the non-using CaregivEr: Safe Space

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Context of the researchDrug and/or alcohol misuse by a parent can be harmful to children and wider family members. Because of this, parents who misuse drugs or alcohol often receive health and social care services to help them reduce their misuse and to protect their children. Having another parent or carer who does not misuse drugs or alcohol can be protective for children. However, little is understood about how to best support these parents and carers who are often overlooked regarding support. Our project will work closely with these 'affected' parents/carers and their children as well as with health and social care professionals involved in their care to develop an intervention which specifically supports to the non-substance misusing parent/carer. Aims and objectivesIn our project we will:- Map what support is currently available for families affected by a parent's drug or alcohol misuse to find out what works well and what does not. We will do this by working in groups with different health and social care professionals across the North East of England. - We will also ask children who are affected by parental drug or alcohol misuse and their parents/carers who do not misuse drugs or alcohol who they think can provide them with the most useful support, including family members, friends and local volunteer groups. - We will ask the non drug or alcohol-misusing parents and carers how best to help them support children affected by parental alcohol or drug misuse.- We will combine what we learnt and share this with parents/carers and health and social care professionals in workshops. We will work in partnership to develop a new way of helping parents and carers in their caregiving role. This will be the 'Safe Space Intervention'.Potential application and benefitsThe Safe Space intervention will be delivered to parents/carers of children aged 0-17 years (inclusive) who live within families affected by parental drug or alcohol misuse. Whilst these families often have a range of health and social care needs, we think that families who receive 'early help' and children's social care services will be the most likely group to receive the intervention as there is greatest need in this population. The Safe Space intervention aims to benefit children (improving their emotional wellbeing); their caregivers (improving their emotional wellbeing, quality of life and awareness of parental drug or alcohol misuse); the family (family functioning) and the professionals that support them (reducing the need for health and social care services including safeguarding services and increased confidence when supporting families affected).