Overview

For those families reported to Child Safety, alcohol or drug use may have started to negatively affect their lives. They may need help to parent their children safely. People can use alcohol and other drugs in ways that are experimental, recreational, situational, intensive (binge use) or dependent.

Substance use that is causing harm to an individual or others around them can involve more than the immediate effects of the substance. A parent’s day-to-day life can be consumed by obtaining, using, managing the effects of intoxication and withdrawal from the substance. (Refer to Dependence, intoxication and managing the effects.)

Different substances (including alcohol) impact on parenting in different ways.  The type of substance a parent uses, how they use the substance (including amount, frequency, route of administration), and the context in which they use the substance affects a parent’s capacity to care for their children. (Refer to Characteristics of substances, parental behaviour and effects on children.)