Adamson & Templeton (2012)

Silent Voices: supporting children and young people affected by parental alcohol misuse is a report commissioned by The Children's Commissioner for England to purport to change government policy on drinking by parents.

Unfortunately, the whole report seems based on nothing but guesswork as evidenced by this paragraph from the summary at the start of the report:

The review is primarily led by what we know from children’s direct input to research and policy development. The report focuses on publications covering England but also draws on work from elsewhere where it adds to our knowledge and is particularly pertinent to this review. Similarly, the emphasis is very much on parental alcohol misuse, but some studies and information from the wider field of substance misuse is also included. A number of key messages emerge for each of the six research questions:

1. Children’s Experiences

1. The size of the problem - the number of children who are affected by/living with parental alcohol misuse - is largely unknown. However, estimates suggest parental alcohol misuse is far more prevalent than parental drug misuse and there is a need for greater emphasis on parental alcohol misuse as distinct from other substance misuse. There are no England/UK data on how many children are affected by FASD (foetal alcohol spectrum disorder).

Anyway, onwards.

Forward

Written by Margaret 'Maggie' Atkinson, the Children's Commissioner for England, it first makes the sweeping claim that alcohol is worse than drugs:

The misuse of alcohol by parents negatively affects the lives and harms the wellbeing of more children than does the misuse of illegal drugs. Yet too often, parental alcohol misuse is not taken as seriously, in spite of alcohol being addictive, easier to obtain, and legal. The effects of parents’ alcohol misuse on children may be hidden for years, whilst children try both to cope with the impact on them, and manage the consequences for their families.

Next, we see who's opinion we are supposed to be witnessing:

We are publishing this review to draw attention to what children say about the problem.

Clearly, these children won't be prompted in what to say, how to say it, and won't be encouraged to over-exaggerate.

Finally, we are to take her upon her word that there is a problem and that something must be done.

My recommendations are for policy makers and all those who commission and provide local services. The impact of parental alcohol misuse is a problem which must be addressed by health professionals, those in social care, treatment services, and others in the child’s life. It requires a coordinated, collaborative approach. It is a problem with which parents must seek help, and one we all need to address. The children speaking in this report tell us our casual attitude to the harmful potential of drinking too much must change. If we act on what they say, we might prevent some children from losing their childhoods.

Introduction to the researchers

We next have an introductory section from the people who performed the research. The first is presented as the company CRC UK. Unfortunately at the time of the report's release

• There was no web-presence for the company concerned - their website was simply the default apache index page for a site with no content whatsoever. The only sources at the time of writing being second-hand references such as this report, and of the sparse page about the company on LinkedIn.
• One of the two employees/founders/directors of CRC UK had left 2 months prior in Jul 2012, and it is the leaver who is cited as one of the authors of this report.

The second is Lorna Templeton who is presenting herself as a self employed independent researcher at the University of Bath, the latter which recently won an £450,000 'award' to produce further studies lambasting not only those who abuse alcohol, but who also enjoy it in moderation.. The funding came from the Economic and Social Research Council which "is funded primarily through grant-in-aid from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)." In other words, the tax payer.

Authors

• Jon Adamson
• Lorna Templeton