The incidence and importance of alcohol abuse in families referred to the Department of Social Welfare

Abstract

Children of alcohol-abusing parents have only recently been recognised overseas as a group needing care and attention, and apart from a few specialists in the field of alcohol treatment their problem is generally unrecognised by people working with children in New Zealand. The author's experience with such children while working as a Department of Social Welfare social worker led to the basic research question "How often does alcohol abuse by parents feature in the background of families referred to the Department of Social Welfare and how important is this to the children concerned?" The findings of overseas research were examined and pointed to the many ways parental alcohol abuse can affect children's lives, from the time of conception to adulthood, and these gave direction to the research. A simple survey of families referred to the Lower Hutt District Office of the Department over a three-month Period. March to May 1988, was undertaken to enable an estimation of the incidence of referrals where parental alcohol abuse is a feature of the families' problems. The results were then compared with overseas literature to answer the question of importance of parental alcohol abuse to the children in the referred families. A total of 71 referrals was studied, of which 52 were simple enquiries requiring little action and 19 led to follow-up action by social workers. In one in four of the miscellaneous referrals, parental alcohol abuse was mentioned as contributing to the family's problems, and almost half the children in the followed-up cases were affected by their parents' alcohol abuse. Reasons for the referrals were examined and it was found that when parents were alcohol abusers the referral was most often because of parents abuse or neglect of the children. Older children in alcohol -abusing families were referred as they had misbehaved, truanted. run away or refused to stay with an alcoholic parent. These older children may have been exhibiting forms of coping behaviour common to children of alcoholic parents. The identification and treatment of children of alcohol-abusing parents was discussed, and it was noted that in the present study the sources of referral of families whose problems are connected with parental alcohol abuse were, as overseas, people who live or work closely with children. The conclusions drawn from this small study were that further detailed research is needed but that the results of this study indicate a need for social workers and others working with children to become aware of possible links between children's behaviour and parental alcohol abuse and the proven link between child abuse and parental alcohol abuse. There are clear preventive and treatment implications suggested as a consequence of social workers becoming aware of these links.