Up to 100,000 Scottish children at risk from parental drinking, figures reveal

Statistics from a new analysis of Scottish Health Surveys revealed that as many as 10.4 per cent of young people under the age of 16 in Scotland are vulnerable to emotional, physical and verbal abuse because of their parents’ “problematic use” of alcohol. This equates to 93,000 children.

The Scottish child protection charity Children 1st warned that the actual number of children damaged by their parents’ excess drinking is likely to be even higher than 93,000.

“These are the children we know about, yet Children 1st’s experience would suggest that many more are living with the risk of abuse and harm caused by adults' drinking and are not known to agencies,” a spokeswoman said.

The charity is currently running a campaign called “Wish I Wasn’t Here”, which aims to highlight the impact of alcohol-fuelled violence on children.

Since the campaign launched on 25 June, Children 1st’s confidential helpline ParentLine Scotland has taken 25 calls from people concerned about children suffering physical and emotional abuse because of their parents’ drinking.

The spokeswoman said more needs to be done to help children affected by alcohol-fuelled violence to recover from their experiences.?

“That means investment in appropriate therapy services, like the ones Children 1st provides, and also ensuring that there are more family-centred services, so that when adults are receiving treatment and support for alcohol misuse, the needs of their children are being addressed as well,” she said.

Children 1st chief executive Anne Houston, added: “From our work with children to help them recover from the trauma of violence fuelled by alcohol misuse, we know that children feel those negative effects for years, with some suffering from depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

"Too many children are missing out on their childhoods because of their parents’ drinking and we all have a responsibility to stop this from happening.”

Simon Antrobus, chief executive of drug and alcohol treatment charity, Addaction, warned that figures on the number of children affected by parental alcohol misuse are “a constant concern”. ?

“We know that children growing up with an alcoholic parent are far more likely to develop their own problems later in life,” he said.

The Scottish government report also found that alcohol sales in Scotland were a quarter higher than in England and Wales in 2010. There has meanwhile been an 11 per cent increase in consumption of alcohol in Scotland since the mid-90s, it warned.