News
Parental alcohol misuse harms more children than illegal drugs, says Children's Commissioner
A new report recommends that the government should pay as
much attention to alcohol misuse within families as it does to drug
misuse.
The study - commissioned by the Community Research Company
for the Office of the Children's Commissioner - investigates the impact
of alcohol on the children of parents who misuse the substance.
The research highlights the following issues:
- 30% live with at least one parent who is a binge drinker (between 3.3-3.5 million children);
- 5% live with a ‘problematic’ drinker, defined as ‘hazardous’ or ‘harmful’ (nearly 3 million children);
- 6% live with a dependent drinker (over 700,000 children);
- around 79,000 babies under 1 in England are living with a
parent who is classified as a ‘problematic’ drinker… equivalent to
93,500 babies in the UK.
Despite these findings, Children's Commissioner for
England Dr Maggie Atkinson says the problem of alcohol misuse within
families is not taken as seriously as that of drug misuse. Dr Atkinson
urges the government to act on the recommendations given in the report,
so we might "prevent some children from losing their childhoods".
A copy of the report, titled 'Silent Voices', can be accessed here. (pdf 1.2mb)