Call to end postcode lottery of mental health care and support for new mothers
Leading children’s charity calls for nationwide rollout of recovery services
Easing Scotland’s drugs crisis demands better recovery services for vulnerable new mothers affected by substance use and their babies, according to a leading charity.
A landmark report by Aberlour Children’s Charity warns the lives of new mums and the life chances of their babies are being risked by a postcode lottery in specialist support.
The research, to be published [MONDAY 1 DECEMBER], details how mothers seeking help to address issues around alcohol, drugs and mental health are falling between the cracks of a confusing and fragmented network of services.
Aberlour has pioneered a range of specialist and intensive perinatal support and is calling for the patchwork of care available to pregnant women and new mothers affected by substance use to be urgently reviewed with the most impactful services rolled out nationally.
Its report, Families’ Voices, will be launched at an event in Glasgow, attended by Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy Maree Todd, when experts and researchers will be joined by mothers detailing how effective support helped them recover while protecting their children and keeping them together as a family.
One of the 23 women contributing to the research told how she struggled to find support as she tried to get off drugs in the north east of Scotland.
She said:
I asked for help non-stop but every time I was told there was nothing suitable for me.
“I was told about all sorts of help available when I was drug free but nothing to help me get there.
“I was crying out for help but felt like no one could hear. It felt like I was being kept in a perpetual state of addiction.
The report calls for mental health, social work and substance use support services to be better integrated to ensure pregnant women and new mothers can easily find the best care wherever they live in Scotland.
Aberlour warned many women at greatest risk face a range of challenges, from childhood trauma and poor mental health to substance use and domestic abuse, meaning they can disengage after being overwhelmed by the different demands of multiple agencies.
Chief Executive Justina Murray said:
Protecting children is always the priority but, whenever possible, that should be done while keeping families together and helping mothers recover.
“Wherever they live in Scotland, mothers and their children need a straightforward route to effective and non-judgemental support.
“That requires more cooperation and joined-up thinking between services, rigorous assessment of the support available, and expansion of the most successful services built on secure funding.
Scottish Government figures suggest up to 60,000 children may be affected by alcohol and drugs use in their families while recent research by MBRRACE-UK found most deaths of new mothers are caused by suicide with more than half dying after having children taken into care.
Spending money on effective perinatal mental health and drug and alcohol recovery services is, according to Aberlour, far more cost effective than spending on crisis response and emergency interventions.
The Families’ Voices report highlights an independent assessment of the charity’s intensive perinatal service in Falkirk, estimating £3.2million was saved in avoided care costs over three years. Rolling out those services nationally, the authors suggest, could deliver savings of almost £50m.
The charity has now opened two pioneering Mother and Child Recovery Houses where up to four mothers can live with their babies while being helped to recover and be the best parents they can be. Many of the women, referred from across Scotland, have previously endured trauma and adversity including isolation, homelessness, and domestic abuse.
The structured programmes include individual detox and stabilisation plans, while tailored support encourages them to embrace their role as a mother.
The charity believes the work at Discovery Grove, in Dundee, and The Burrow, in Falkirk, demonstrates how investing deeply in mothers can be transformational, and argues Scotland’s long-term drug crisis cannot be solved without focusing on women and families.
The Families’ Voices report urges the expansion of the model to other regions and suggests the investment will be recouped from reduced spending on care and crisis intervention.
The authors conclude:
This isn’t a call for new money but for smarter spending aimed at earlier intervention, preventing crises and easing pressure on social work and care systems.
“The question is not whether we can afford to invest in these services but whether we can afford not to.
Debbie's Story
"I kept being told I wasn't in the right place...but then I found it."
Debbie, a recovering mother, hails a house full of hope.
Honestly? It felt like everything was falling apart, like my life was coming down around me. I was alone, exhausted, and terrified of losing my baby.
I felt abandoned really, like everyone had turned away from me because I was still using, that I was such a bad mother, this awful person.
But I had asked for help to get clean so many times and kept getting told that I wasn’t ‘in the right place’ but I didn’t know what that place was? How was I meant to get there without being shown?
All the help seemed to come after you stopped but how could I find the strength to get off drugs when I was barely functioning? Mentally, I was in bits.
I had been using since I was 12. A lot happened to me when I was young and, for years and years, I was walking about with all this pain. I couldn’t carry it by myself. I didn’t know how.
Even when I did get clean, I started thinking I would be better using again because I felt so raw, all this trauma was battering me and I had nothing to numb myself.
There’s so much stigma. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about me, none of them good. As if I would have chosen my life? Who would? Who wants to use drugs or steal or sell themselves? It’s survival not a choice.
Then I got a place with Aberlour and everything changed really. I got so much staying at the Mother and Child Recovery House but the hope was the biggest thing. Feeling that things might actually get better, that it didn’t have to go on like this. Honestly, I never thought I’d feel like that again.
I was treated like a human being, like someone trying to do the best for her baby, even when I was feeling like the worst mum in the world. It isn’t all cuddles and fluffy blankets, there is a lot of hard truths spoken there and a lot of hard work done, but there is kindness too, and patience, respect.
The mums are encouraged to talk about the pain, what led us here, not try to cover it up with tablets or anything else. We are given the time to recover at our own pace, learn to be better mums, and we stay with our children, together.
I was a grown woman but no one had ever said they were proud of me before. It lit something in me. I found a strength I didn’t know I had.
I’m even stronger now, and getting stronger. Strong for me and strong for my baby.
Debbie and 22 other recovering mothers contributed to Aberlour’s Families’ Voices report
This article was written for The Sunday Post, and published on Sunday 30th November 2025.