PARENTS hooked on internet child pornography and hard drugs are posing an increasing threat to their own children, social workers have warned in a massive new regional survey.

And East Lancashire social services bosses today warned of an increase in abuse by parents in the region.

More than two-thirds of the social workers who took part in the survey across the North of England said they believed there was a direct link between the viewing of child pornography on the net and the abuse of children.

A third said they felt sexual abuse of children in the region was on the increase.

The independent study also found that most social workers consider drug abuse to be more of a problem in child protection cases than five years ago. Heroin was the major cause.

Stephen Sloss, Assistant Director of Social Services (Children's Services) for Blackburn with Darwen Council, said the number of children placed on the Child Protection Register as a result of sexual abuse was 25 in March 1999, 10 in March 2000 and 22 in March 2001.

"There has been an increase in the year, but not one that exceeds the 1999 figure. The link between viewing child pornography on the net and the abuse of children must be a strong one.

"The negative impact of drug misuse on family life appears to be a serious one and social workers do report drug and alcohol misuse as a feature of many cases of child neglect."

Blackburn with Darwen Council Director of Social Services Ken Foote said that his social workers were experiencing similar demands to those in other urban inner-city areas. "We are working on strategies to tackle this and that is why Blackburn with Darwen has established the multi-agency Drug Action Team to look at these and other similar issues and concentrate on finding ways to tackle them."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council social services called for national leadership on access to internet child porn and for a research programme to discover its real impact.

On drugs, he said they had set up a whole range of services to help addicts. "We try not stigmatise people. Our aim is to keep families together."

Polly Neale, editor of Community Care magazine, said: "There are some warning signs here -- particularly on the serious implications of internet pornography -- that merit attention from policymakers."