WIMMERA Drug Action Taskforce co-ordinator spokesman Brendan Scale believes a new report revealing more than one million Australian children are adversely affected by their parents’ or carers’ alcohol abuse reinforces the organisation’s position that alcohol misuse causes more harm than any other drug.
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The report – The Hidden Harm: Alcohol’s Impact on Children and Families – found 10,000 children were in the childcare protection system because their parents or carers abused alcohol.
Family violence campaigner and Australian of the Year Rosie Batty launched the study – funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education and undertaken by the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research – on Tuesday.
It examined the prevalence and effects of heavy drinking on families and children, and the extent to which they persisted or changed over time.
‘‘Yes, other drugs such as ice are a big concern, and we need to keep working hard on them.
But we cannot ignore the fact our region’s enjoyment of alcohol is costing us in more ways than we think,’’ Mr Scale said.
‘‘Every emergency and welfare service in our region will tell you that far more people come to them for alcohol-related issues than any other drug.
‘‘That was reiterated to us at a state-wide conference in Melbourne last week.’’
The new study draws on two national surveys of alcohol’s harm to others, service system data from policy and child protection services.
It also takes into account information gained from qualitative interviews with families affected by others’ drinking, which revealed children experienced a range of harms.
The report showed the harms reported by families varied.
Children were verbally abused, left unsupervised, physically hurt or exposed to domestic violence as a result of others’ drinking. Most commonly, children witnessed verbal or physical conflict or inappropriate behaviour.
More than one quarter of respondents reported harm from family members’ drinking in at least one of the surveys undertaken in 2008 and 2011.
The report showed these harms often persisted over time, with 50 per cent of adult respondents harmed in 2008 also harmed in 2011 and 35 per cent of children harmed in 2008 also harmed in 2011.
Mr Scale, who is also an alcohol and other drugs counsellor at Grampians Community Health, said it was important for the community to be aware children often paid the price when alcohol was misused.
‘‘Drinking alcohol is very much a part of society’s way of celebrating and commiserating,’’ he said.
‘‘At the same time, we ask people to think about their children and ask the question, ‘is the amount I am drinking affecting how I relate to my kids?’ ’’
Mr Scale said the report did not downplay or mitigate the effects of other drugs, such as ice.
‘‘Ice is still a big concern for us and the community and we will continue to educate the public about the harms of the drug,’’ he said. ‘‘In fact, there will be another public forum in Horsham in March.’’