More help and support need to be given to the hundreds of thousands of children living with a parent who misuses alcohol regularly, a report from England’s Office of the Children’s Commissioner says.1

The report describes how more children are affected by parents who drink alcohol excessively than the number whose parents take illegal drugs. But parental alcohol misuse is not taken as seriously as parental drug misuse by children’s services, despite alcohol being a far easier to obtain addictive substance, as it is legal, advertised, and easy to buy, the report explains.

The researchers held focus groups with children who had at least one parent who drank alcohol to excess to …