Aberlour children's charity call to aid addict parents

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The charity said the right support could help keep families together'

A Scottish children's charity has called for drug addicts who are parents to be given more support to keep their children.

The plea comes amid growing calls for more children to be taken into care, following cases such as the death of Brandon Muir in Dundee last year.

However, the Aberlour charity said a family environment was often still the best place for a child.

It has launched the Bridges schemes to provide help to addict parents.

In the first project of its kind in Scotland, the charity's Bridges scheme provides help to addict parents by ensuring tasks such as getting children up for school in the morning or helping with meal times are done.

'Not accurate'

The charity said such schemes could help keep families together.

According to government statistics, a person is more likely to end up in prison, on benefits or suffer mental health difficulties if they are taken into care as a child.

Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Alex Cole-Hamilton, the head of policy at Aberlour, said: "There is a view taking hold in Scottish society that where drug and alcohol dependency is a factor in a family environment, that family environment is no longer conducive to giving a warm, loving and stable environment to bring up children.

"That is just not accurate. We see how much capacity there is for good and loving parenting."

Mr Cole-Hamilton said such parents required intervention to ensure they were "bridging the gaps" in the care they offered their children.

Brandon Muir was killed by his drug addicted mother's boyfriend on 16 March 2008.

Robert Cunningham was jailed for ten years for killing the 23-month-old toddler at his home in Dundee's Balunie Crescent.