Alcohol, children, families and domestic abuse The work of Alcohol Concern

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Alcohol, children, families and domestic abuse
The work of Alcohol Concerns Embrace Project

• Don Shenker, Chief Executive
• Alcohol Concern

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Elephants in the room
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Elephants

• First elephant alcohol
• About 14 people are drinking at
  increasing/higher risk including 1.1million who
  are dependent drinkers 60 of alcohol is drunk
  at home
• Second elephant children of drinking parents
• Usual estimate for children affected by their
  parents drinking is 1.3million (Alcohol Harm
  Reduction Strategy for England) but recent
  research (Manning, V et al) taken from GHS
  returns and Psychiatric Morbidity surveys
  suggests more than twice this figure. AT LEAST
  8,500 in each PCT
• Third elephant domestic abuse
• 14 women experience domestic abuse in their
  lifetime
• One third of all domestic abuse incidents are
  alcohol-related
• Three quarters of children in households where
  there is domestic abuse have witnessed the abuse
• Victims of domestic abuse are 15 times more
  likely to drink problematically than the general
  population
• Between 70 and 90 of clients in alcohol
  treatment services are/have been involved in
  domestic abuse as perpetrators or
  victims/survivors

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• A three year Alcohol Concern project started in
  May 2008 to
• build capacity in non-statutory alcohol
  services
• enabling them to think family and think
  safety
• to mainstream and embed children, families and
  domestic violence/abuse issues into their
  everyday practice.
• Funded by the Big Lottery Fund

Embrace Project
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Embrace Project pilot sites

• Nine sites in six English regions, all voluntary
  sector, none have previously worked specifically
  on these issues
• Half are stand-alone and half are part of larger
  organisations
• One is peer-led, one is specifically BMER, one is
  a predominantly homeless service
• At very different stages of development

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Embrace Project pilot sites
Embrace Project pilot sites

• Progress over the past year
• (External evaluation carried out by Universities
  of Bath and Bedford)
• Building local partnerships especially with
  MARACs, Womens Aid and LSCBs
• Training both from Embrace and locally on
  CAF/Hidden Harm and Domestic abuse
• Developing new tools eg for recording and
  monitoring
• Adapting/adopting new policies, procedures,
  protocols
• Supporting staff in undertaking the work

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Embrace Project pilot sites

• Challenges
• Resistance among staff dont want to open can
  of worms
• NOT ENOUGH TIME to develop the work
• Partnership problems especially with Childrens
  Social Care
• Insecurity re future eg retendering
• Changes in services Brief Interventions not
  appropriate, need longer time to develop trust

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Why is it important?

• Many adult alcohol service clients (50) are
  parents/have parental responsibilities which
  affect and are affected by their drinking
• Most have been/are involved in domestic
  violence/abuse (70-90)
• Life for children within problem drinking
  families can affect all five outcomes of Every
  Child Matters
• Government is increasingly focused on Think
  Family agenda
• Families can play a crucial role in motivating
  problem drinkers to change, in retaining them in
  treatment and in preventing relapse positive
  engagement of families can have a dramatic impact
  on treatment outcomes
• All adult services are responsible for
  contributing to safeguarding and promoting the
  welfare of their clients children. This
  includes PROACTIVE sharing of information with
  Childrens services and other agencies eg MARAC

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What can adult alcohol services do?
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Meerkats

• Meerkat moments look out for
• Potential risks for child protection/safeguarding/
  welfare
• Potential risks for domestic abuse

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• Think family throughout the service venue,
  decor, opening hours, materials available are all
  important
• Make sure that all staff are aware of and alert
  to issues of children families and domestic abuse
  
• Ask the question - Screen and record
• Know what youll do with the answer How do you
  manage this within your service? How do you
  bring in other services?

What can adult alcohol services do?
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WORK TOGETHER USE THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE
Key messages
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WHAT SHOULD SERVICES DO?
What happens next?

• Action Research on the nine sites continues until
  October 2010 report to be presented at
  Conference March 2011
• One-day training sessions for alcohol services
  from January 2010 to February 2011
• Knowledge Sets two already published, final
  document in Spring 2010
• Guidance papers for services and commissioners,
  and policy paper, to be published 2010
• embrace_at_alcoholconcern.org.uk

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Can we fix it?
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Thank you

• embrace_at_alcoholconcern.org.uk
• www.alcoholconcern.org.uk
• 020 7264 0510