Social work dessertation - Essay Example

In relation to the use of alcohol, the evidence suggests that tendencies are heightened towards behaviour leading to violence when people are under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol related behaviour can be associated with violence and can be exhibited other behaviours in a number of ways or forms (Parker & Auerhahn, 1998). Even if violence only occurs under intoxication, individuals actively caught in the substance abuse cycle exhibit several other common behaviours. These include spending needed money on the substance of their choice, spending time away from family and neglecting to care for those who are dependent or have a common share in the family welfare.

For many alcoholics, the deeds they have done in neglecting their families and supporting their habits may have proven too much to bear, driving them to further drink as a means of forgetting about them yet exacerbating the problem further by sinking more valued and required resources into the drink rather than the home (Goodman, 2007). To shed some light into the scale of the problem, The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which was established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, produced a three year inquiry report in 2003, which estimates for England and Wales to be around 200,000 to 300,000 children with one parent or both parents to have a harmful and problematic drug use.

The report estimates these figures represent 2 to 3 per cent of children under the age of 16. A further report by the ACMD in (2007:5) recognises ‘that the impact of parental alcohol misuse on children has significant parallels with that of problem drug use…points to an increased sense of urgency for the impact of parental alcohol use on children and young people to be recognised and acted upon at UK Government policy level’. The report also recognises that parents