Make an Enquiry
Contact Us

Charity highlights extent of parental alcohol abuse on children

The Children’s Society is calling on the government to urgently address the £2bn funding gap for local council children’s services after research shows almost 700,000 children are affected by parental alcohol abuse.

Figures from the charity also show that more than 1.6 million teenagers have a parent with depression or anxiety and 1.7 million teenagers are living in homes struggling with problem debt.

The Children’s Society Chief Executive Matthew Reed said: “Millions of teenagers in the UK are suffering in silence with problems that would floor an adult. The hundreds of thousands of children whose parent has a drinking problem are sadly just the tip of the iceberg of children in desperate need of support. At a time when demand for council children’s services is rising, severe funding cuts from central government are leaving more and more to deal with these huge problems alone.

The charity’s survey of 3,000 families with children aged 10-17 found:

  • Almost 60% of these teenagers affected by parental alcohol abuse have a parent who is also suffering from depression or anxiety.
  • A quarter of these teenagers were taking on caring responsibilities at home
  • Two in five had experienced domestic violence
  • One in four had been homeless in the last five years.
  • In 60% of households, adult mental health problems were also evident
  • In almost 45% of households, parents had a long-term condition or disability.

The charity warns that children in households where a parent is abusing alcohol are prone to developing mental health problems, running away from home or being excluded from school.

The Children’s Society argues that local services are crucial to make sure children in families affected by alcohol misuse are identified and that they are kept safe.

Matthew Reed added: “Specialist services working with families to combat problem drinking, support for teenagers whose parent has mental ill health, or safe spaces for them to go when pressures at home mount, are becoming ever harder to find. Without support at an early stage as problems emerge, these families can quickly reach crisis point and the risks for the children involved grow.”

Knowledge & Resources

Keep abreast of the latest news in the children's services sector.

A look back at 2022 with WillisPalmer's Head of Practice, Lucy Hopkins…

09/12/2022

2022 saw people trying to get back to some degree of normality following the Covid-19 lockdowns, restrictions and school closures that we had faced for the previous two years. However, the impact of Covid-19 continued and many services experienced, and continue to experience, backlogs and difficulties, including those services relating to children and families.

Social worker [...]
Read Full Story

John Lewis Christmas advert highlights important messages regarding foster care and looked after children

09/12/2022

Every year people are excited to see what the theme of the John Lewis & Partners Christmas advert will be. This year's advert reminded our Head of Practice, Lucy Hopkins, of all the times she arrived at the homes of foster carers with children or young people who were anxious, scared, worried and hungry, having just [...]

Read Full Story

The WillisPalmer Christmas Tree Decorating Competition 2022

09/12/2022
Who Wins..? You Decide!

We have two Christmas trees at the WillisPalmer office and this year the staff upstairs are going to compete with the staff downstairs to see who has the best decorated tree... and we want YOU to decide on the winner!

Tree 1 - Downstairs 

Tree [...]

Read Full Story

A Mackman Group collaboration - market research by Mackman Research | website design by Mackman

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram