Why children are the forgotten victims of Scotland’s drug-death crisis – Justina Murray

Bleak because this tragedy has become an annual opportunity for political point-scoring, for hand-wringing and finger-pointing, for turning a public health calamity coloured in shades of grey into binary black and white.

It has become a hollow, repetitive, black-edged day of claim and counter-claim when too many of the voices that demand to be heard – the voices of children, for example – are lost in the clamour.

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Children on the brink of crisis

More than 600 children lost a parent in 2020 to drugs, according to an analysis four years later, and there is nothing to suggest that level of loss, or its impact, has eased dramatically in the years since.

This time last year, the National Records of Scotland revealed there were 1,017 drug-related deaths in 2024. That same year 3,167 children were placed on the child protection register, with almost 40 per cent of cases linked to the substance use of their parents.

Hundreds of children in Scotland lose parents to drugs every year. Thousands more grow up on the constant brink of crisis and at the edge of care because of the impact of drug harm on their families.

Their childhoods are turbulent, their education is sabotaged, talents go untapped, and opportunities are curtailed. This cannot go on. Our country cannot allow so many babies, children, and young people to be the forgotten victims of this crisis.

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More than a number

When the number of lives lost last year is revealed, that single number will, inevitably, be framed as a simple measurement of our success, or otherwise, in tackling the worst drugs-death rate in Europe.

It is, of course, more than a number. This is about life and death, grief, and loss, and our response demands more than over-hyped ‘solutions’ or politically motivated pot-shots.

After the sound and fury, when the news cycle spins again, will we be any closer to tackling the symptoms of this crisis, never mind the root causes? Well, we should be. We know what works and needs to be done. We have known for years.

Today, we must do whatever we can, as much as we can, more than we are doing, to heal those lives damaged by substance use, shore up families, and support children to a better future. That means throwing a protective arm around them and their families. It means providing support that is expert, intensive, and encompassing and, crucially, there when needed for as long as it is needed.

But what about tomorrow, next year, and the decade after? That will demand practical policies, political will and far-sighted strategies to transform the lives and life chances of children living in our poorest postcodes. It demands long-promised support to end child poverty, close the educational attainment gap, create opportunities, jobs and apprenticeships, encourage hope, and rebuild thriving communities.

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The foundations of a secure childhood

In his Programme for Government announced earlier this month, First Minister John Swinney promised to eradicate child poverty and treat drug use as a public health emergency, while vowing prevention and early help would be a seam running through our care, health and criminal justice services.

Look up prevention and early help in the dictionary and you might perhaps find a picture of our charity’s mother and child recovery houses. The Burrow in Falkirk and Discovery Grove in Dundee offer residential recovery spaces for pregnant and new mums with a history of substance issues, allowing them to recover while staying safely with their babies.

We wrap around mother and child, support bonding, build their confidence as parents, and lay the foundations of a safe and secure childhood for their baby. Without that support, many of those children would be placed in care. With it, three-quarters of babies remain safely with their mothers when they leave.

For all sorts of good reasons, our two houses – backed by the Scottish Government and shaped by the experiences of the women living there – make sense. Intensive perinatal support transforms lives. Investment in those services, and others, is paying off in thriving families, stronger communities and money saved.

An independent evaluation of our community-based, intensive perinatal services in Falkirk, for example, estimated it saved £1 million a year in avoided care placements for babies and other crisis interventions.

Not ‘all cuddles and fluffy blankets’

Money invested in intensive support for mums and their children is better spent keeping families safely together, than managing their separation through a lifetime of crisis-led state intervention. Wherever they live in Scotland, pregnant women and new mums need a straightforward route to expert, effective and non-judgmental support, giving their children the best start.

This is not about new money but smarter spending, to ease the pressure on our partners in social work and healthcare in every region of Scotland. The big question is not whether our country can afford to roll out and scale these services nationally, but whether we can afford not to.

One mum hailed the support she found in Discovery Grove after struggling to find the help she needed elsewhere, by saying: “It isn’t all cuddles and fluffy blankets, there is a lot of hard truths and hard work, but there is also kindness, patience, and respect. Until now, I had been crying out for help but felt like no one could hear.”

It is time for us to start and, as another bleak day approaches, this is as good a time as any.

Justina Murray is chief executive of Aberlour Children’s Charity