Drug and alcohol services - improving holistic family support

Annex C

National Framework Principles for Holistic Whole Family Support from COVID-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group

• Non-stigmatising: Support should be promoted and provided free from stigma and judgement. Services should be as normalised as accessing universal services.
• Whole Family: Support should be rooted in GIRFEC and wrapped around about the whole family. This requires relevant join up with adult services and whole system, place based, preventative addressing inequalities.
• Needs based: Support should be tailored to fit around each individual family, not be driven by rigid services or structures. It should cover the spectrum of support from universal services, more tailored support for wellbeing and intensive support (to prevent or in response to statutory interventions). Creative approaches to support should be encouraged.
• Assets and community based: Support should be empowering, building on existing strengths within the family and wider community. Families should be able to "reach in" not be "referred to". Support must be explicitly connected to locations that work for local families and the community, such as schools, health centres, village halls and sports centres.
• Timely and Sustainable: Flexible, responsive and proportionate support should be available to families as soon as they need it, and for as long as it is required, adapting to changing needs.
• Promoted: Families should have easy, well understood routes of access to support. They should feel empowered to do so, and have choice about the support they access to ensure it meets their needs.
• Take account of families' voice: At a strategic and individual level, children and families should be meaningfully involved in the design, delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement of services. Support should be based on trusted relationships between families and professionals working together with mutual respect to ensure targeted and developmental support.
• Collaborative and Seamless: Support should be multi-agency and joined-up across services, so families don't experience multiple "referrals" or inconsistent support.
• Skilled and supported workforce: Support should be informed by an understanding of attachment, trauma, inequality and poverty. Staff should be supported to take on additional responsibilities, and trusted to be innovative in responding to the needs of families.
• Underpinned by Children's Rights: Children's rights should be the funnel through which every decision and support service is viewed.