Substance Misuse
Individuals and families affected by substance misuse often have multiple and complex needs. These families require a multi-agency approach where services work together to plan and deliver care in order to ensure a ‘whole family’ approach is achieved.
Bexley’s Multi-Agency Parental Substance Misuse Protocol aims to support all professionals in Bexley with concerns about the wellbeing of children and young people whose parents or carers have substance misuse problems, specifically where the substance misuse is impacting on or likely to impact on their ability to meet the needs of the children and young people in their care:
Bexley Multi Agency Substance Misuse Protocol
The protocol was developed in partnership with LB Bexley Public Health and following some initial work in the partnership’s Learning Hub in 2021. The protocol was issued in 2023 (and refreshed in October 2025)
Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. produced a resource pack on substance misuse following the Learning Hub’s work in 2021 (this was refreshed in 2025):
LB Bexley Public Health has commissioned a comprehensive training offer in relation to substance misuse which is set out below:
Bexley Substance Misuse Training Calendar April 2026-March 2027
Please contact jane.walker@bexley.gov.uk for more information about any of the above training opportunities (these are not all administered by Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D.)
The London Safeguarding Children Procedures has a chapter on parents who misuse substances:
PG34. Parents who Misuse Substances (londonsafeguardingchildrenprocedures.co.uk)
