- Children with alcohol-abusing parents need the same level of services directed at families of drug-users, according to a new report. It said a "cultural acceptance" of heavy drinking may be leading to delays in identifying the impact on children. The study, by the Aberlour Child Care Trust and the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams, said alcohol services needed to be improved. It also called for more research and a campaign to raise awareness. The authors of the report, A Matter of Substance? Alcohol or Drugs: Does it make a difference to the child?, said about 100,000 Scottish children were affected by parental alcohol abuse. BBC News
- The impact of chronic parental alcohol misuse on both parenting and child welfare is being increasingly recognized, with such problems featuring in a significant proportion of families in which there are identified child-care concerns. There is a growing body of research which suggests that there are often particular difficulties in gaining access to such families, with effective engagement seen as central to appropriate intervention and to assessing children’s welfare in these situations. Establishing and sustaining engagement may be particularly problematic where these families experience a constellation of impacting pressures, of which alcohol and/or drug misuse is a central component.
An article published in the British Journal of Social Work this week explores some of the challenges of reaching children and parents in such circumstances. Based on research that included a wider evaluation of a specialist service for children and families in which alcohol is a problem, a sample of families who ‘dropped out’ of contact are presented and discussed. The authors suggest that particular responses to engaging such families are needed and identify the challenges in gaining access to children in such circumstances. Parental Alcohol Misuse in Complex Families: The Implications for Engagement Abstract The lead author, Andy Taylor, will be discussing the issues raised in the article in a forthcoming Alcohol Policy UK podcast
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