ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a summary of knowledge about parental substance misuse as a social concern, the effects of substance use on users and on their parenting, the consequences for children at different developmental stages and some implications for service providers. Synthetic drugs are generally chemically manufactured psychoactive substances which have been designed to mimic the effects of more common, more established or plant-based substances. Harm-reduction strategies assume that some people will be using substances at any point in time, and they consequently focus on education to help people use alcohol and other drugs in the safest way possible. Alcohol use in pregnancy can have negative life-long consequences and result in Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders or, worse, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. Some experimentation with alcohol and other drugs is a normal part of late adolescence, but the children of substance-dependent parents are at increased risk of developing their own alcohol and other drug use problems.
