Alcohol, children and families
About 1.3 million children are adversely affected by a family member's drinking.
Alcohol misuse can have a devastating impact on families and children. Consumption at a harmful levels or dependent drinking can cause stress to the whole family and can result in a number of problems including financial and housing issues. There is a need for more support for families affected by alcohol misuse. This should both take the form of more support for families and children in their own right and also for alcohol services to understand and be able to offer support to families.
There is a wide body of research which shows that working with and supporting the families of people with an alcohol problem improves the outcomes for the family members and the person with an alcohol problem.
In addition alcohol services need to be aware of and understand the relationship between alcohol misuse and domestic abuse.
Alcohol misuse does not cause domestic abuse.
Between 50 and 90% of social worker's caseloads present with parents that have alcohol, drug and/or mental health problems. Alcohol also plays a part in 25-33% of know cases of child abuse. It is imperative that services are able to recognise the signs of domestic abuse, have appropriate protocols in place to protect the victims of domestic abuse and are able to do so in a safe way. The clear need for understanding and appropriate measures to protect victims is highlighted by the fact that most serious incidents of domestic abuse, including murder, take place after the couple have separated.
Whilst alcohol does not cause domestic abuse (victims report that perpetrators are abusive whether drinking or not) alcohol misuse tends to make the abuse more severe and frequent. Victims often drink in order to cope with the abuse and this is often not understood by services - it is a common problem with one in four women having experienced some form of domestic abuse during their life. Women form the majority of victims of domestic abuse (2/3).
Alcohol Concern, through its Embrace project, is working to develop best practice nationally about how services can work with children, families and domestic abuse. The project has developed a range of resources and recommendations for policy which help services to work safely with the victims of domestic abuse. For more information visit the Embrace project pages of this website.