BJSW Advance Access originally published online on December 20, 2006
British Journal of Social Work 2008 38(5):843-864; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl374
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Parental Alcohol Misuse in Complex Families: The Implications for Engagement
Andy Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Plymouth. He is currently undertaking research into interventions for children and families where there is parental drug misuse, funded by the Department of Health (with Dr B. Kroll) and is a member of the Alcohol Drugs and the Family research unit at the University of Bath, where he is researching the needs of children of alcohol misusing parents and the problems of engaging families in treatment. He has published in the fields of addictions and criminal justice. He is the co-author of Parental Substance Misuse and Child Welfare.
Paul Toner is a Ph.D. Researcher based at the Mental Health Research and Development Unit (MHRDU), a joint unit of the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and the University of Bath. Recent research includes an evaluation of the Family Alcohol Service (FAS), a review of the Bristol Maternity Drug Service and ESRC-funded work on developing a social support measure for the family members of problem alcohol and/or drug users.
Lorna Templeton has worked for the MHRDU for nearly ten years. She is now Deputy Manager, with specific responsibility for the Alcohol, Drugs and the Family Research Programme. Lorna has conducted a range of research and development projects in this area and widely publishes and presents her work.
Richard Velleman is Professor of Mental Health Research at the University of Bath, and Director of the MHRDU. He has been awarded more than £3million in research grants over the past twenty-five years, and has published widely in many areas of mental health research, with a particular interest in the impact of parental and family substance problems on children and other family members.
Correspondence to Andy Taylor, Faculty of Health and Social Care, School of Social Work and Primary Care, University of Plymouth, St Luke’s Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, Devon, EX1 2LU. E-mail: andy.taylor{at}plymouth.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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The impact of chronic parental alcohol misuse on both parenting and child welfare is being increasingly recognized, with such problems featuring in a significant proportion of families in which there are identified child-care concerns. There is a growing body of research which suggests that there are often particular difficulties in gaining access to such families, with effective engagement seen as central to appropriate intervention and to assessing children’s welfare in these situations. Establishing and sustaining engagement may be particularly problematic where these families experience a constellation of impacting pressures, of which alcohol and/or drug misuse is a central component. This article explores some of the challenges of reaching children and parents in such circumstances. Based on research that included a wider evaluation of a specialist service for children and families in which alcohol is a problem, a sample of families who ‘dropped out’ of contact are presented and discussed. The authors suggest that particular responses to engaging such families are needed and identify the challenges in gaining access to children in such circumstances.
Keywords: parental alcohol misuse, child welfare, engagement, multi-problem families