A FAMILY judge is hoping to begin a US-style drug dependency court to help the growing number of babies and children who are being taken into care because their parents are misusing drugs or alcohol.

District Judge Nicholas Crichton, resident judge at the Inner London Family Proceedings Court, says a project development officer should be appointed within the next two to three weeks to draw up the scheme. His initiative is being backed by the local authorities in Camden, Islington and Westminster and the Children and Family Court Advice and Support Service (Cafcass), which have each put in £10,000.

Judge Crichton says: “We see a procession of mothers addicted to drugs whose babies, often just a few days old, are taken into care. The mothers become pregnant again and the tragic cycle is repeated.”

He has visited the Drug Dependency Court in San José, California, where he was inspired by its approach. “The single most impressive message I learnt is that the moment you remove the children into interim care is the moment you start working with the mother, otherwise it is too late.

“The court has a team of specialists, including substance abuse experts, lawyers, social workers and child advocates, on hand to help to draw up an immediate, tailor-made programme for her because these cases are never just about drugs or alcohol. The programme builds in measures to deal with relationship problems, domestic abuse, housing, mental health, income support and learning difficulties.

“Here, we are too inclined to say to parents ‘go off and get yourself detoxed and then we can start talking’. But very few have the strength to do that because of all the other problems dragging them down. The few who do go to a centre may be put on a waiting list which could be three months long. That is hopeless. You have to start easing them back up the ladder from the moment you remove their kids.”

He has drawn together a working party that includes specialists from the councils’ drug advisory teams, Professor Judith Harwin, of Brunel University, and Donald Forrester, of Goldsmiths College, London University. Their research for the Nuffield Foundation into 290 families allocated to social workers in four London authorities found substance misuse in 100 of them, affecting 186 children. Forty per cent involved child protection issues and 62 per cent care proceedings. Two years after referral, just over half the children were no longer living at home.

Judge Crichton acknowledges the differences between the UK and US systems. “The Americans have a greater horror of drugs even than we do. Therefore they remove children very quickly where we might not even have put them on the child protection register and may have succeeded in helping them before court proceedings are needed. However, that means the cases coming before our courts involve parents right at the end of their tether.”

But he believes that the “tough love” approach of the US court offers parents more hope. “No one criticises the parent in court. The programmes are based on rewards and consequences. A mother may be given vouchers to take her children to a pizza restaurant if she keeps to the strict programme set by the judge and his team, which can include Narcotics Anonymous meetings at 6am to fit in with work or other commitments. A negative drug test can, in some schemes, lead to 24-hour imprisonment.

“Some may feel the US system, with its applause and certificates for parents who ‘graduate’ from their programme, is too ‘touchy feely’ for us. Others argue you cannot cut and paste ideas from other jurisdictions.

“But we need to find something that suits our culture and psyche, and you do that by starting with a loose framework and building on what works and jettisoning what doesn’t. We have to try to get better at showing parents we are not there just to take away their children.”

Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, welcomes the initiative because of the sheer numbers of parents with drug and/or alcohol problems. “A third to a half of cases involve drug or alcohol dependency, which is a phenomenal amount.

“The key question is can intensive intervention over a defined period produce a different result? If it helps in even 20 per cent of cases, it will be a breakthrough.”

Claire Brighton, who is Islington’s drug and alcohol action team co-ordinator and is also on the working party, says: “This seems such a sensible and intelligent idea. The pilot scheme will be an important way of pooling resources and skills across authorities to test what works. And, if it is successful, it will make it easier to argue that the project should be extended to other areas.”

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