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Meeting the best interests of children facing homelessness

Draft guidance is presented. Local authorities’ duties to homeless people are set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 as amended by both the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003. Section 32(8) of the 1987 Act sets out that a local authority, in exercising its functions under section 31 or 32 in respect of an applicant having a priority need for housing by virtue of a dependent child residing with them, must have regard to the best interests of the dependent children.

Is the harm still hidden? Inconsistent responses to Hidden Harm in specialist addiction services

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report Hidden Harm (2003) outlined key deficits in the provision of services to pregnant drug users, drug using parents and to the children of drug using parents, while highlighting the extent of child exposure to parental drug use. In 2007, a follow-up report assessed what had changed in the intervening period focusing on examples of good practice and positive change. This paper is based on the results from a follow-up postal survey of managers of specialist drug services in the UK.