Families, drugs and alcohol

25 Corsham Street
London
N1 6DR

Tel: 020 7553 7640
Fax: 020 7253 7991
Web: www.adfam.org.uk

Founded by the mother of a heroin user, who could not find support for herself or her family, Adfam's mission is to be the voice of families affected by someone else’s substance misuse. They focus on three areas in their service delivery:

• Informing - they provide a wide range of information to families to help them manage to their situation. They also work with professionals and government to influence policy in this area.
• Challenging - using information gathered directly from families, and from research findings, they challenge and influence policy makers, planners and the media to understand and represent more accurately the issues affecting families of drug and alcohol users.
• Supporting - they run support services for families in contact with the criminal justice system in London prisons. They also provide capacity building services to family agencies, community / self help groups and statutory agencies to improve their ability to support families.

They ensure that families can use their services by:

• Working through a network of over 300 family support services. These small local groups have often been founded by family members and are run by and for family members.
• Ensuring that all their work is directly informed by the voice of family members who sit on the external advisory group and advise and support Adfam’s Chief Executive.
• Targeting services at communities with specific needs. They have worked with the Afghani community in London and are now developing services for Somali families in contact with the criminal justice system.