SAVED BY GRAN'S LOVE

A New Scottish Executive Policy Promises To Help Identify The
Children WHO Are At Risk Because Their Parents Are Drug Addicts.

Here, We Talk To One Grandmother WHO Is Rasing Her Daughter's Yound
Family Because She Is Too Hooked On Heroin To Care

When Jack McConnell unveiled the Scottish Executive's new policy to
identify the at-risk children of drug users, he made it clear their
safety has to come first.

The policy, Hidden Harm - Next Steps, calls for help for the 60,000
children in Scotland who are affected by parental drug misuse.

And that action can't come too soon for the children who've lived
with the horror of an addict parent.

In many cases, grandparents or other relatives are left to pick up
the pieces and raise the traumatized youngsters as best they can.

The Lighthouse Foundation in Ayrshire supports these families and has
launched an appeal to raise cash to send children and their carers on
a muchneeded caravan holiday.

Here, we talk to one woman who is raising her two grandchildren
because her daughter is a heroin addict.

We have also printed a letter from her eight-year-old granddaughter.
It makes painful reading.

Pauline's* three children had grown up and she was looking forward to
the fun of days out with her grandchildren. Instead, she's become the
full-time carer to two of them.

Pauline, 49, from Ayrshire, said: "They've seen things they never
should have seen, like their mum injecting heroin. "When I found them
they were dirty and hungry. Their mum wasn't looking after them -
she'd been addicted for seven years and wasn't coping."

Pauline suffers from emphysema and her husband has had a heart
attack. But instead of taking it easy after raising their own family,
they're starting again with Rebecca*, eight, and three-year-old Ben*.

Around 18 months ago, Pauline stepped in to look after the two
children, when she realised their mum was neglecting them.

She said: "Rebecca still loves her mother but she doesn't trust her.
I love her too and I don't trust her either. She's tried to get off
heroin but she just keeps going back to it.

"I worry about what they've seen when they were living with their
mum. I know they've seen her injecting - and that's one thing I can't
forgive my daughter for allowing to happen.

"She wasn't buying food for he r children. A big proportion of her
benefits were going on drugs."

It's all a far cry from the golden years Pauline had been expecting.

She said: "I'd been looking forward to growing older, enjoying
playing with my grandchildren - I'd never expected to be a parent to
them. My other grandchildren miss out because I don't have the time
or energy left to see more of them.

"I don't keep so well so I find it very tiring. It takes away a lot
of the fun that you should have with your grandchildren when you've
got them 24 hours a day with the worry of being a parent again.

"Pauline says she receives child benefit and tax credits but, as a
relative, doesn't get the same level of funding paid to foster carers
and struggles to make ends meet.

And she has the added stress of not knowing how her own child is.

"I still worry about my daughter - even though I now don't even know
where she lives," she admitted. "I wait for the police to come to my
door to say she's dead or been murdered. She was a clever girl but
any talent she had has been ruined by drugs. She's lost so much
weight and her teeth are rotten.

"But it's the kids of addicts who really suffer. My grandchildren's
heads were crawling with lice.

"Now they're clean, they're fed and they're happy.

"They know if they're promised something they are going to get it.
Rebecca knows if she goes to school the TV and video will still be
here when she comes home. Before, her mum sold them for a UKP10 bag.

"Every Christmas they'd open their presents but then their mum would
sell the gifts by Boxing Day to buy drugs.

"When they first came to live with us Rebecca was quite withdrawn.

"She wrongly blames herself for her mother being an addict. Sometimes
she rocks backwards and forwards saying, 'It's all my fault', which
is heart-breaking."

Pauline added: "My daughter blamed me for taking her children away
from her. I feel sorry for my her, but it's the children I feel most
sorry for. I feel like I've lost my daughter - she's like a stranger
because heroin has changed her."

Ann Mitchell, development officer for The Lighthouse Foundation,
said: "More should be done to help the grandparents looking after
children of addicts.

"The children of addicts have been traumatised. We have identified
250 of these children living in Ayrshire alone.

"We can't take away the memories of what they've seen, but we try to
meet the children's needs."

The charity has launched an appeal to send the 250 children and their
grandparents on a caravan holiday in a bid to help them forget the
horrors they've been through.

Names have been changed to protect their identities.

[Sidebar]

No One Played With ME At School

Letter from Rebecca*, aged 8, from Ayrshire.

My mum is a heroin addict. She has been ever since I can remember.

Using drugs was normal in my house. I was used to seeing my mum and
her boyfriend sticking needles into each other then falling asleep.

Last Christmas my mum locked me and my wee brother out of the house.
We had to sit on the step. It was very cold.

We were crying for her to let us in but she didn't. She was sleepy
because of the drugs.

She doesn't care about me and my wee brother.

When we lived with my mum and her boyfriend I didn't like the people
who came to my house.

They used drugs in front of us, they used needles too. I was scared.
I cried because I was afraid of the people.

I wanted them to go away but I was always sent to my room where I
used to cry into my pillow until I fell asleep.

It's my fault that mum takes drugs, she shouted it at me all the time.

I wasn't allowed to tell anyone what happened in our house. I wanted
to go out and play but I was scared I wouldn't be able to get back in
and there would be nowhere else for us to go. I used to try to iron
my brother's clothes but the iron was heavy and I burnt my arm.

My friends couldn't come over because my house was messy and dirty
and I didn't want them to see it.

I wanted to be like the other boys and girls in my class but my
clothes were dirty and I had lice.I never went to birthday parties
because I had no nice clothes and I couldn't buy presents. No one
played with me. They all said mum was a junkie.

Some days I didn't go to school because I didn't have any clean
clothes so I just stayed at home.

One day some kids chased me and called me smelly. They started to hit
me and they were really horrible to me. I didn't know what to do. I
didn't say anything and I sat by myself in the playground.

When gran found out where we stayed she was angry and I heard her say
mum wasn't looking after us properly.

Gran took us back to her house and we got proper dinners, instead of
biscuits and cornflakes.

My gran looks after us now and we feel safe.

Gran goes to a place called The Lighthouse Foundation and she talks
to the people there. I go there sometimes and they take me on trips.
I went horse riding and met a girl who I like a lot. She lives with
her gran too.

The Lighthouse said they will try to send us and gran on holiday
which would be fun.