SCOTS are being urged to shop their neighbours to police and social workers if they suspect they are neglecting their children because of drug addiction or alcohol abuse.
In a major new campaign to be launched next month, the Scottish Government will call on residents to expose any addicts or alcoholics in their area who are failing to care for their children.
They want people to use a new dedicated national ph
oneline, linked to the authorities, who may then visit the affected families and take their children away if they are deemed to be in danger.
Ministers denied last night that the plan would become a "snooper's charter", insisting that, such is the scale of the crisis affecting vulnerable families, drastic measures are now necessary.
The latest figures show that there are as many as 60,000 Scottish children who currently live with drug abusers. A further 100,000 are believed to be living with parents with an alcohol problem.
In one tragic case, two-year-old Derek Doran died at his home in East Lothian after drinking the heroin substitute methadone, which had been prescribed for his parents.
Politicians from all parties have warned they are being inundated with information about shocking cases of babies and children being left unwashed and unfed by parents who care only about their next fix or another drink.
In a bid to emphasise the scale of the problem, ministers want to brand the new phoneline "the fourth emergency number", alongside police, fire and ambulance services.
Calls are to be taken by a central unit and treated confidentially. If necessary, incidents could then be referred on to police or social workers.
Ministers hope the phoneline could become as well-used as the Crimestoppers line.
Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing told Scotland on Sunday: "If a heroin addict is down to his last £10, he will spend it on drugs and not food for his children. That is the tragic reality."
He added: "Everyone is aware of the risks of fire, emergency health problems or crime being committed, but where is the means for the public to communicate their most serious concerns about the plight of a child? Is this not a fourth type of emergency?
"This is one of the most serious problems that Scotland faces and we must deal with it."
The new drive is to be launched in February with an advertising campaign. The national child protection phoneline has been piloted in four parts of Scotland – Highland, Edinburgh, North East Scotland and Midlothian – but ministers now say they want to promote it nationwide.
The crackdown comes after Scotland's chief medical officer, Dr Harry Burns, warned that "alarming" numbers of children were living in chaotic homes where drug and alcohol abuse were harming their development. Across Scotland, one third of those on methadone treatment have a child under 16 living with them all, or part, of the time.
But Burns also admitted that social workers and police were unable to prevent severe harm to many other children, because they did not know about their parents' addictions.
Ewing said it could no longer be left to the state to monitor such families. Communities carried a "moral responsibility" to play their part as well.
The plans were backed by children's groups last night who said that too often neighbours did not know who to turn to when they were concerned about a child who was potentially in danger.
However, opposition parties said that social workers and
police would not be able to cope with the number of calls, and described the plans as "a gimmick".
Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie said: "This represents a small step in the right direction and we welcome the fact that more children will be protected from the horrors of drug and alcohol abuse. However, it is still not the sea change in government attitude that we were promised and the SNP now needs to start matching their early rhetoric with action."
Duncan McNeil MSP, who has campaigned for tough action on drug addiction, said: "We have put a lot of responsibility on social workers, police and health boards. They have not got the resources to cope with the demand out there. Unless Fergus Ewing puts resources on the ground, they will not be able to cope."
Demands for drastic action to help children who live with drug abusers have increased markedly in recent months.
Last year, Professor Neil McKeganey, head of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at Glasgow University, said CCTV cameras should be placed in the homes of drug-abusing parents, to ensure authorities could see they were looking after their children.
Former First Minister Jack McConnell said he supported moves to put such children into care, rather than let them stay at home.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "In February we will be launching a national advertising campaign for the 24-hour gateway line to local child protection services, CPLine. The campaign will have a community focus, using local press and radio across the country to raise awareness that child protection is everybody's business.
"The campaign will encourage people to report concerns about a child being neglected or abused, including any concern about children affected by their parents' alcohol or drug misuse."
The full article contains 887 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
