Safe spaces needed for drug-addicted children, say grieving mums

Three women whose teenage sons died after being addicted to opioids told the BBC that the drug treatment failed their children. As part of a wide-ranging probe into drug therapy for young people, Anita Morris, Nicola Howarth, and Kate Roux appeared on the BBC. It revealed significant inequalities in community care and a lack of state-funded residential services for children under the age of 18. According to the report, more than half of the 16,000 people in drug and alcohol therapy in the last year were 15 or younger.

According to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System's results, there has been a 13% rise in under-18s seeking help in 2024-25, but experts and families claim that many are not receiving the assistance needed. The BBC discovered disparities in community care, skills in planning, and a scarcity of beds for those in need of assistance. According to Will Haydock, a drug charity, if a national strategy is needed. Olly Barnett, Alfie Nichol-Brown, and Ben Nelson-Roux are all mothers who believe that more effective treatment may have saved their boys' lives. Although they have never met, the women all shared the same story of their children fighting heroin and having to fight for years to get the right treatment.

We need safe spaces for children who buy $1 tablets off the street and creating heroines,

Anita, whose son Olly died at the age of 17. "We need places for them to get off opioids with proper assistance, where they are safe, and their parents aren't miserable, wondering if they will die in their bedroom.

The majority of children are housed in the community, and the majority of them will never need residential care. For those who do, options are limited. According to the BBC, there are no state-run specialist residential services for under 18s in the United Kingdom, and only a handful of beds are available in expensive private hospitals. Experts told the BBC that drug trends, which included a dramatic rise in ketamine and solvent use, were causing increasing demand for specialty care. Cannabis was the most commonly used drug by patients in 2024-25, with 86% identifying it as a danger to them.

Councils should fund and coordinate locally for drug therapy, which is the responsibility of pharmacies. Olly, Ben, and Alfie received community-based assistance through a network of social care, the NHS, and local drug agencies. Each of their mothers' families said that collaboration had been lacking and that residential treatment was impossible to obtain. I was told there was nowhere for him to be sent, Anita, who had to handle Olly's detoxification process at home, said. No detox center, no in-patient facility, and no inpatient facility was available.

I considered going private, but with everything I had and the car I could have sold, I would have been lucky to have afforded a week.

He may not have recovered if he'd received proper care, detoxification, and counseling all at the same time,says the author. He may have been healthier. The authority received one of the country's lowest Public Health Grants, according to Councillor Jill Rhodes, who chairs Cheshire East Council's adults and health committees, but ordered a variety of drug and alcohol therapy services. It acknowledged a clear gap in residential services for young people and would strongly endorse a national strategy to solve the shortfall, according to the spokesperson.

Kate, a woman from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, described Ben's medical assistance as

horribly overstretched. When she discovered him dead in an adult homeless hostel at 16, she said he had been on the books of more than a dozen companies.

Every strand [of his care] was done by a separate group in the community, and there was very little contact with each other, very little interaction with us, and no joint up scheme,she said.As he progressed, his phone pinged and pinged with social media ads for drugs and dealer risks.

He had drug workers who saw him a maximum of once a fortnight, but they couldn't cope with that kind of coercion.

He needed a residential home because he never felt safe, but we couldn't make him safe.

Because of extensive looking for suitable accommodation,

a North Yorkshire Council spokeswoman said Ben had been relocated to the homeless shelter as a last resort. Theheartbreaking situation" highlighted the need for more national specialist staff, according to her.

Nicola Howarth, a mother from Newton Aycliffe, Durham, said her son Alfie had seen at least 20 drug workers between the ages of 12 and 17. There was no consistency with his care, she said.

I was always having to kick off and scream like a naughty boy to get someone to pay attention to me.

Alfie had a cocaine problem so bad he lost nose cartilage and was using all day, every day and was spending hundreds of pounds a week on his heroin. His mother could not afford the $23,000 she was quoted for a private residential rehab facility – she was still saving up at the time of his son's death. A call from an adult residential facility came on Alfie's 18th birthday.

They said they had a bed for him if we still wanted it,

she said, but he'd already died. "Adolescent Safeguarding and Exploitation team had been established since Alfie's death, according to Michael Laing, Durham County Council's corporate director for adult and health services, with assistance available to young people who needed it.

The BBC acknowledges that treatment and access to it can differ greatly depending on where children live, as well as local commissioning and funding decisions. Future Deaths reports produced by coroners following Ben and Olly's inquests pleaded for action, highlighting drug use and a lack of residential facilities for under the age of 18 years. The absence of such services, according to Alexander Frodsham's report, which came after Olly's 2024 hearing, put

children at a greater risk of relapse and death by overdose

as he highlighted differences between child and adult treatment. According to leading experts, gaps in government guidance, a lack of early intervention and prevention, long waiting lists, inadequate data and evidence collection, zero-tolerance school policies, and poor coordination were all at the root of an unequal framework.

'Children have suffered'

More must be done to ensure high quality care for children and young adults, including adequate in-patient services for those with the most complex needs, according to the government's independent drugs advisor. Children had suffered from years of underinvestment in health care, according to Professor Dame Carol Black, who now finds the current government must turn around the tanker and rebuild the sector. In light of her independent review of drugs in 2020, she said changes had been made, which included the need to expand access to treatment.

I'm thrilled with where we've arrived, but I want the consistency of what we're delivering to be improved.

Dame Carol said.

Dr Will Haydock, chief executive of charity Collective Voice, which represents a variety of drug firms, shared her views.

There are still issues with inconsistentity, what's on offer, and the routes by which people access it,

he said. Following Dame Carol's study, Haydock said the rise in under-18s in treatment could mean more investment and improved healthcare access. But he said that online pharmacies, evolving drug trends, and a higher incidence of children with mental health problems had all contributed. Dr. Haydock said a

coherent, coordinated package of carewas absolutely vital, adding:Substance use problems are never exclusive, and they're always a part of someone's wider life.

We must include mental health care, education, and youth rights, and we need national leadership with a concrete strategy and plan for reducing harm.

A cross-government strategy, more specialist beds, earlier intervention, additional funding, and the introduction of concrete national guidelines and prevention policies were among the potential solutions suggested by experts including the Children's Commissioner, the Local Government Association (LGA), drugs charities, and rehabilitation workers. According to a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson, the service and recovery funds would be channelled through the Public Health grant by 2026. He said £3. Over three years, the 4bn will be ringfenced for opioid and alcohol therapy and recovery. There are three beds available at Banbury Lodge in Oxfordshire, a residential facility that provides care for a variety of addictions. Such centers, according to center manager Nick Dunkley, provided a complete range of services that were open around the clock. However, a 28-day stay at the privately operated rehabilitation center costs almost £18,000, putting the price out of reach for many families, who accepted it. Mr Dunkley acknowledged the high price and said more state-funded beds should be available, adding:

Preventative steps are a better alternative to waiting until things are beyond repair.

Child Commissioner Rachel de Souza expressed deep concern about the postcode lottery faced by too many children.

No matter the situation, children and young people must be able to get the medication they need close to home to help them recover quickly and regain stability with love from loved ones,

she said. Dr. Wendy Taylor, the LGA, called on the government to increase the public health grant to ensure quality services were available and accessible to all. The environment was very difficult for councils trying to provide medical services under serious budget constraints, she said.

'Reduce the stigma'

Dame Carol said that there was every intention centrally to restore and improve services.

It's the consistency of the people in the service, the speed of the service,

she said, and the link to the other items that children need is vital. We should treat heroin use as a chronic disease, she said, adding that we must reduce the stigma surrounding it, she continued. And that's everybody's company.

The government's moves came too late for Olly, Ben, and Alfie, but their parents are hopeful that change will bring hope to others.

There are more children like Olly, and to know your child is safe and not going to die in front of you, is amazing. " Anita said that going through a proper withdrawal program would mean so much to parents. It would save those children.