Adfam is pleased to publish new guidance on involving families in Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDPs). CDPs were established following the UK Government’s Harm to Hope Drugs Strategy, providing a setting in each local area for understanding and addressing shared challenges related to substance use, improving practice, and ensuring coordination across different local delivery partners. Adfam has produced two resources, one for Senior Responsible Owners (SRO’s) and one for services that work with families.

Local areas are responsible for the delivery of their CDPs, which should be visible and accountable for their actions, both to local residents and central government. People with lived experience are a key partner in the CDPs and the Government’s Commissioning Quality Standard for drug and alcohol treatment has formally recognised those with lived experience to be ‘people affected by their own or other people’s drug or alcohol use, including children, families, carers, friends and communities’. Adfam’s guidance outlines why the voice of families affected by substance use should be included within these multi-agency forums, and how this can be implemented in practice.