Under 12’s Service
Supporting the Healthy Development of Children Affected by Parental Drug or Alcohol UseIndividual support is provided to children under 12 years of age who are or have been affected
by parental substance misuse.
The children’s worker will meet with the family to make a plan that will suit the needs of the child.
Working together we can help children resolve some of the experiences they have been affected by.
The focus of work is around providing children with opportunities to express themselves and some of their traumatic life experiences through play.
Play is a child’s natural form of communication, they have a right to play yet sadly for so many of the children we work with opportunities to
play in depth are limited.
By building relationships with children and parent’s opportunities are presented which highlight strengths within families. By building on these
existing strengths confidence, self worth and parenting capacity can be increased.
Examples of intervention include:
• Assessment: use of Dept of Health Family Pack of Questionnaires and Scales, HOME Inventory and In My Shoes programme
• Video Interaction Guidance work with mother’s and babies
• Parent & Child play sessions
• Play sessions designed to meet the individual needs and interests of children
• Introduction and access to community resources & programmes i.e. Natural Connections
• New experiences that can be replicated by the family
The longer term aim is to develop a group which children can access following their individual sessions if appropriate.
*Individual play sessions take the form of a two hour weekly session, children can be collected from home, school or nursery. There is no cost involved and children
are provided with a snack.
For more information on the Under 12’s Service please contact Mary Irvine, Under 12’s Development Worker, Tel 01592 862315 or email mary@thezone-bc.org.uk