Toolkit for alcohol workers
What can be done
Alcohol agencies that are not in a position to develop specialist provision do, nonetheless, have an important role to play in respect of their clients’ children and, unless a client deliberately withholds information, the normal assessment procedure will ask clients if they have children – so workers will know of children likely to be affected.
Firstly they are expert in alcohol related problems. Generic professionals who work with children may easily miss the fact that a child in a problem drinking family needs additional support and may not even know of the child’s circumstances. Alcohol workers, on the other hand, will know the effect a problem drinker can have on family members. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that there is support they can offer which is likely to be of benefit to the children of their clients.
Secondly they have a relationship with the parent who will have approached them for help.
And thirdly this professional might be the only person that the problem drinker or their spouse (if it is the partner who has come for help) feels they can trust.
Therefore even without considering the development of additional new services, alcohol agencies are in a position to help children who may be affected by their parents alcohol problems by:
- Providing information to parents about reducing/eliminating immediate risks
- Providing information to parents about reducing risk of long term harm to their children
- Encouraging and supporting the parents to develop ways of building resilience within their children
- Supporting the development of parenting capacity or referring on to other services who would be able to do this
- Identifying children who are at risk
Even better would be alcohol services where:
- One member of staff has a special interest in this issue and is allowed time for additional training and to provide information and assistance to other workers
- Parenting capacity training is undertaken.
In the following sections, we look at the evidence base for taking action as well as a closer look at the nature of the effects of parental drinking upon children. Importantly, we also look at the factors in a child’s life that are likely to prevent them suffering long-term harm as a result of their experiences.
We then look at some of the steps that alcohol agencies can take to contribute to that harm minimisation.
