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Parents must not ignore drugs problem

Help Your Kids Stay Drug-Free, billed as a "one-hour survival guide for parents", has been republished by national charity Care for the Family. The book, written by experienced youth communicator Paul Francis, has been printed to accompany Care for the Family’s highly successful How to Drug-proof Your Kids parenting course, which is being run in communities across the UK.

"Some parents try to ignore the issue of drugs and think that it won’t happen in their family," says Paul, who has worked with young people through Going Public, a Cardiff-based charity, for several years.

"Many parents would be shocked at how easily their children can buy illegal drugs and how frequently they come into contact with drugs and alcohol in their everyday life. Drugs, alcohol and smoking are issues for just about every teenager and parents need to be aware of the pressure their children may face to 'experiment'."

Paula Pridham, Care for the Family’s training manager, is keen to see Paul’s book in the hands of parents. "We hope that this book will prove to be an immensely valuable help to the many parents concerned about their children being exposed to drug and alcohol use," she says. Paula has helped train over 850 local presenters of the How to Drug-proof Your Kids course in the two years since Care for the Family introduced it to the UK.

Help Your Kids Stay Drug-Free costs £5.99 and is available from Care for the Family on (029) 2081 0800. For more information about training as a course presenter, or courses being run for parents in your local area, please visit www.dpyk.org.uk

'Respect parents' Christian charities urge Government

In the wake of the news that the Prime Minister has earmarked £90 million for his new ‘respect’ campaign, the Evangelical Alliance has called on the Government to show some real ‘respect’ and pay attention to issues around values, family structure and family breakdown.

Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, said: “It will be interesting to see what this £90 million actually achieves. It is all very well to talk about respect, but if the Government is serious about tackling the causes, rather than merely the incidence of anti-social behaviour, and really wants to restore attitudes of respectfulness in society, it must do more to support agencies and groups who are seeking to mentor and instil values in young people. It is so important that young people are given the chance to develop a moral compass, because without it they are not going to respect others.”

He added, “There are many under funded and under resourced youth projects, many of them Christian, doing sterling work in our communities. The people running them, the people on the ground, could do a great deal with even a small proportion of £90 million.”

In addition, well documented research from social concern charity CARE reveals that anti-social behaviour, the focus of the Government’s ‘respect’ campaign, can be clearly linked to both family breakdown and the growing phenomenon of ‘fatherlessness’. The Alliance, along with a number of other Christian charities, suggest the Government could show real respect by backing marriage and working to prevent family breakdown, rather than issuing laws that require parents to control their children.

50,000 prodigals prayed for across the UK

This autumn sees the final tour of Care for the Family’s Bringing Home the Prodigals event, which is presented by best-selling author, Rob Parsons. Since the first event was held in Glasgow in 2003, more than 50,000 prodigals have been prayed for across the country – and this last tour will take place in seven towns and cities across Britain.

The focus of Bringing Home the Prodigals has been an invitation to members of the audience to write the names of their prodigals on cards and symbolically lay them at the foot of the cross towards the end of each evening. More than 25,000 people have attended the events, and they have all been invited to take a card and pray for the prodigals of other people.

Several thousand names have also been submitted at a dedicated website www.prodigals.org.uk where details of the current tour are available.


		NEWS Parents must not ignore drugs problem Help Your Kids Stay Drug-Free, billed as a "one-hour survival guide for parents", has been republished by national charity Care for the Family. The book, written by experienced youth communicator Paul Francis, has been printed to accompany Care for the Family’s highly successful How to Drug-proof Your Kids parenting course, which is being run in communities across the UK. "Some parents try to ignore the issue of drugs and think that it won’t happen in their family," says Paul, who has worked with young people through Going Public, a Cardiff-based charity, for several years. "Many parents would be shocked at how easily their children can buy illegal drugs and how frequently they come into contact with drugs and alcohol in their everyday life. Drugs, alcohol and smoking are issues for just about every teenager and parents need to be aware of the pressure their children may face to 'experiment'." Paula Pridham, Care for the Family’s training manager, is keen to see Paul’s book in the hands of parents. "We hope that this book will prove to be an immensely valuable help to the many parents concerned about their children being exposed to drug and alcohol use," she says. Paula has helped train over 850 local presenters of the How to Drug-proof Your Kids course in the two years since Care for the Family introduced it to the UK. Help Your Kids Stay Drug-Free costs £5.99 and is available from Care for the Family on (029) 2081 0800. For more information about training as a course presenter, or courses being run for parents in your local area, please visit www.dpyk.org.uk 'Respect parents' Christian charities urge Government In the wake of the news that the Prime Minister has earmarked £90 million for his new ‘respect’ campaign, the Evangelical Alliance has called on the Government to show some real ‘respect’ and pay attention to issues around values, family structure and family breakdown. Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, said: “It will be interesting to see what this £90 million actually achieves. It is all very well to talk about respect, but if the Government is serious about tackling the causes, rather than merely the incidence of anti-social behaviour, and really wants to restore attitudes of respectfulness in society, it must do more to support agencies and groups who are seeking to mentor and instil values in young people. It is so important that young people are given the chance to develop a moral compass, because without it they are not going to respect others.” He added, “There are many under funded and under resourced youth projects, many of them Christian, doing sterling work in our communities. The people running them, the people on the ground, could do a great deal with even a small proportion of £90 million.” In addition, well documented research from social concern charity CARE reveals that anti-social behaviour, the focus of the Government’s ‘respect’ campaign, can be clearly linked to both family breakdown and the growing phenomenon of ‘fatherlessness’. The Alliance, along with a number of other Christian charities, suggest the Government could show real respect by backing marriage and working to prevent family breakdown, rather than issuing laws that require parents to control their children. 50,000 prodigals prayed for across the UK This autumn sees the final tour of Care for the Family’s Bringing Home the Prodigals event, which is presented by best-selling author, Rob Parsons. Since the first event was held in Glasgow in 2003, more than 50,000 prodigals have been prayed for across the country – and this last tour will take place in seven towns and cities across Britain. The focus of Bringing Home the Prodigals has been an invitation to members of the audience to write the names of their prodigals on cards and symbolically lay them at the foot of the cross towards the end of each evening. More than 25,000 people have attended the events, and they have all been invited to take a card and pray for the prodigals of other people. Several thousand names have also been submitted at a dedicated website www.prodigals.org.uk where details of the current tour are available.