Adfam launches Combating Drugs Partnerships Guidance

Adfam is pleased to publish new guidance on involving families in Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDPs). CDPs were established following the Government’s Harm to Hope Drugs Strategy, providing a setting in each local area for understanding and addressing shared challenges related to substance use, improving practice, and ensuring coordination across different local delivery partners.

Local areas are responsible for the delivery of their CDPs, which should be visible and accountable for their actions, both to local residents and central government.

People with lived experience are a key partner in the CDPs and the Government’s Commissioning Quality Standard for drug and alcohol treatment has formally recognised those with lived experience to be ‘people affected by their own or other people’s drug or alcohol use, including children, families, carers, friends and communities’. Adfam’s guidance outlines why the voice of families affected by substance use should be included within these multi-agency forums, and how this can be implemented in practice.

Adfam has produced two resources, one for Senior Responsible Owners (SRO’s) and one for services that work with families.

Download:

• Combating Drugs Partnerships: Guidance to Senior Responsible Owner’s (SROs) and organisers on involving families (pdf)
• Combating Drugs Partnerships: Guidance to services on involving families (pdf)

Adfam has worked in partnership with the Government’s Joint Combating Drugs Unit in developing this guidance, and we are grateful to Dame Carol Black, Independent Advisor to the Government on Drugs who has written a Foreword in support of the guidance.

We are also grateful to colleagues from our alliance of family support organisations who offered their insights and input, including colleagues from Bridges Family and Carer Support, DHI, DrugFAM, ESCAPE, Family Support Link, Hetty’s, PROPS and Sanctuary Family Support.