We were recently forced to announce that despite significant investment in drug treatment in recent years none of this funding had reached residential treatment services. Combined with short-term and sporadic funding processes this left the National Specialist Family Service based in Sheffield, the last residential family treatment service in England, on the brink of imminent closure. 

We are delighted, to say the least, to announce that the future of the service has now been secured. Closure plans have been cancelled and we are looking forward to a future we had thought was disappearing from sight. 

The support of frontline drug treatment staff across the country has been invaluable, and with the convening support of OHID and the efforts of substance use commissioners across England, CGL and amazing specialist support organisations Women’s Reform and Mother2Mother, we are back from the brink!

The key challenge we faced was the spot purchasing of placements (pay-by-night per resident funding). Spot purchasing means that each family had to argue their case for an individual funding package across budgets that span adult and children, rehab and social services. It is too complicated for families in need of urgent support and already overburdened social workers and drug treatment staff. Due to such an amazing response from so many we have been able to move the service to a block funding model that will improve access for families and enable us to plan for the future. 

The National Specialist Family Service provides a unique opportunity to offer parents the core benefit of treatment alongside specialist parenting and childcare support. Research suggests that substance use treatment alone is not a protective factor for families striving to stay together. There is a growing body of research to demonstrate the effectiveness of whole-family interventions for families where parents experience substance use problems. 

There is so much more work to be done and with the future of the service secured, we will now move back to supporting families to stay together, evidencing what works, fighting stigma and pushing for appropriate support for parents and pregnant women.