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Kinship Care Week 2024

This week (7-13 October) is #KinshipCareWeek, a campaign to celebrate the incredible role that kinship carers play in children's lives and raise awareness of what life is like for kinship families. Kinship care is when a child lives in the care of a family member, because their parents are not able to care for them. In the UK, there are more than 180,000 children living in kinship ...

Enter Adfam’s Competitions for 2024

Family Voices Competition and Gary Seaman Award 2024 Adfam runs two special competitions each year to recognise and give a voice to families affected by addiction. Family Voices is a creative writing and poetry competition for families to share their stories, while the Gary Seaman Award was set up as a tribute to Gary Seaman, who dedicated his life to supporting families and those ...

Addiction Mission Priority Setting Partnership survey

“Today’s research leads to tomorrow’s care”. What needs investigating to help improve care for people with experience of addiction to drugs and/or alcohol, and their families, friends, and carers? A team supported by the UK Government’s Office for Life Sciences Addiction Mission is looking for the following people to answer a new short survey which will influence future research: ...

New Lived Experience Campaign Network

Adfam is setting up a National Lived Experience Campaign Network, to remotely bring people together with lived experience of a family member's substance use, to campaign, raise awareness and influence change.

Adfam at 40 – Dr Emily Finch: “helping people recover is helping them reconnect”

2024 marks a special year for Adfam as we celebrate our 40th year. Throughout 2024, we will be reflecting on the past 40 years on the progress that has been made in supporting families affected by substance misuse, as well as looking to the future. Through a series of monthly articles, Adfam is speaking to a range of key individuals active in supporting families through substance ...

Adfam remembers Bernie Carr

Adfam is saddened to learn that Bernie Carr died on 12th June 2024. Bernie was a prominent member of the Alcohol and Families Alliance (AFA) Steering Group for many years and played a huge role in championing the AFA and the needs of families affected by substance use, whilst also being an influential advocate for people with lived experience of addiction

Adfam launches new website!

We are so excited to announce the launch of Adfam’s new website. The site has been completely redesigned with a brand-new look and feel. It is now more engaging, interactive and easier to navigate for both families and professionals.

Alcohol & Families Alliance – policy manifesto

The manifesto’s top four priorities include investing in services for children and families, tackling the affordability, availability and promotion of alcohol, reducing stigma, and the need for a new alcohol strategy.

Adfam at 40 – Justina Murray: Supporting Families in Scotland

‘Same but different’ Justina replies when asked what the differences are for families affected by substance use in Scotland. Politically, things are very different. The Scottish National Party (SNP) have led the Scottish Parliament since 2007 (including periods of minority government), and alcohol policy in Scotland has been significantly more forward-thinking than in England.

Alcohol-specific deaths 2022: Supporting those who have lost their loved ones

Behind familiar reporting of the latest rise in alcohol-related deaths, lies the less well known story of the bereavements these deaths entail for those who have lost a loved-one this way. Recent research is revealing that, whilst alcohol- and drug-related bereavements vary a lot, they are often severe, complex and long-lasting

Adfam at 40 – Joy Barlow: recognising women, children and substance use

“We’ve got to go for connectedness. We’ve really got to understand that no one set of professionals is going to work this. And working alongside and with the families, hearing the lived experience, hearing the voice. Now that is incredibly challenging, but I think it also has to be said that we’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t do that.”

Frank takes on the Speed Project

We are really excited to announce that ultra-marathon runner and endurance athlete Frank Bingham is taking on the Speed Project later this month to raise money for Adfam! The Speed Project if you didn’t know, is a gruelling 500km race through the desert from Los Angeles to Las Vegas! The race commences from Santa Monica…

Adfam at 40 – a conversation with Rose

“Just because someone is living with their parents at a given time, doesn’t mean they are necessarily prepared for them to stay there, and for them to financially support them. Services need to be asking not just the person with the issue but the family, ‘are you coping?’ and ‘how long can you cope for before it gets too much?’

Adfam at 40

2024 marks a special year for Adfam as we celebrate our 40th year. Established in 1984 by Simon Ann Dorin who could not find the support she needed to deal with her son’s heroin use. In its early years Adfam was run by volunteers using the vestry at the back of St George’s Church in…

End the Shame

Stigma is an issue that has impacted families affected by substance use for many years. In 2012 Adfam published Challenging stigma, a report which looked in detail at the stigma and prejudice faced by families. Among all else it found that, regardless of their own behaviour, families felt defined by the stigmatising labels attributed to their relatives struggling with substance use. One ...

Why are so many children missing out on early help?

In January the Government released its annual adult substance misuse treatment statistics for 2021 – 2022. The figures mostly showed little change from the previous year and responses from Local Government, NHS providers and charities struggled to find anything new to say. They broadly welcomed an increase in the number of people seeking treatment for alcohol, and generally highlighted the ...

A Mother’s Letter to Her Son

This is an unsent letter from a mother to her son called ‘I am not having it’, which has been kindly shared with us in the hope that it will help other mothers going through what she is going through. I am not having it ‘Whatever you say AND forever and a day, “I am not having it”.  “Are you listening, “I AM NOT HAVING IT; I am powerful and I am me”. I am shouting it from the ...
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