Toolkit for social workers

   Introduction

Children and family social workers today are mainly, if not entirely, concerned with child protection type casework. There is frequently less time to support families in general need unless there is a child protection issue. This is especially true in cases with parental alcohol misuse.

Given the need for multi-disciplinary action to support families and children, social workers and professionals from other teams require sufficient role clarity, confidence and skills in dealing with the multi-layered issue of parental alcohol misuse. Difficulties in dealing with this issue can be exacerbated by two factors specific to working with children with problem drinking parents.

Firstly, that professionals referring to social services can overreact in this situation and often feel that if alcohol misuse is a factor then a referral to social services is a must. This situation is covered in detail within this toolkit. See Addressing child protection.

Secondly, in common with other professional groups, social workers are not always likely to have had evidence-based information or training on alcohol misuse issues, including the effect of parental drinking on children. There is a risk therefore that alcohol related problems can be overlooked unless they are overt.

We need to bear in mind that 40% of social work cases involve children whose parents misuse alcohol. Most of these will not be parents who are alcohol dependent but parents whose drinking behaviour causes significant problems for the family and impacts on the welfare of children. Contrary to popular belief alcohol misuse is much more common than drug misuse and most people with alcohol problems do not use or abuse illegal drugs. Alcohol and drinking are a normal part of life for most groups within England and Wales and so drinking problems should not be considered uncommon.

Whilst many other professional groups are in a position to take preventative action and work to support children affected by parental misuse, it is a fact that many of these cases will be referred to social services.

The materials in this toolkit have been largely focused on children and family social workers. However consultation with social services departments strongly indicated that adult teams could also use some guidance given the high proportion of case work where alcohol is a problem and where the clients are parents. We therefore include a section looking at the issues for adult social workers as well.