Effects on children and families

How families and children are affected by parental alcohol misuse

This section has been adapted from presentations given by Professor Richard Velleman, Bath University.

This section aims to:-

Help the reader understand the specific effects of parental alcohol misuse on family life and parenting capacity
Deepen the reader’s appreciation of the type of situations a child from a family where alcohol misuse is a significant factor has to cope with
Provide background reading for individual professionals
Provide material for discussion within and between groups of professionals

Introduction
This section of the toolkit examines the effect of parental alcohol misuse on family life and on parenting capacity. Drawing from the evidence base, it details how parental alcohol misuse erodes the ways in which families ‘normally’ work in meeting the needs of children. These ways develop organically in most families and, despite variations between different types of families, different cultures and different levels of income, form a fundamental area, albeit an unconscious one, of shared experience between children.

Professionals working with children often find it hard to identify the specific impact of parental alcohol misuse on children they work with – it is different from a range of other reasons as to why they might be concerned about a particular child in their care.

This section, by detailing how parental alcohol misuse impacts on family functioning and how it reduces parental capacity, will help deepen an appreciation of the problems faced by children from such families.

To signs and symptoms section