Calls for more funding to help children of alcoholics

Children affected by their parents' alcohol abuse say they are being "failed by the government" due to a lack of funding.

Lily Cohen, now 24, said growing up with an alcoholic mother left her with multiple mental health issues.

Ms Cohen is calling for more support to help children in similar situations, who she calls "collateral damage".

The government said £530m will go to local authorities over the next three years for substance misuse treatment.

It is estimated 200,000 children in England live with an alcoholic parent or carer, according to Department for Health and Social Care figures.

Ms Cohen, originally from Norfolk and now living in Sheffield, said living with her mother's drinking as a child had left her with mental health problems - including complex PTSD, nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks.

She was hospitalised with an eating disorder and had trauma counselling, but now supports adults with alcoholism.

"I skipped a lot of school because I wanted to be back home with my mum to make sure she was OK," she said.

"I would make sure she was still breathing."

Ms Cohen said her mother's drinking was "a secret" and she told none of her friends at school.

"I felt like if I was good enough, if she loved me enough, she would stop, but now as an adult I know that's not how it works."

Lily's mother Elaine Mayes died in 2020, aged 50, with liver damage.

At the time Lily felt "abandoned again and very angry", but said now she feels some relief too.

The support worker was 15 when her mum first went into hospital and she said there was no support in caring for herself and her younger sister.

She said "there should have been some kind of intervention" as "the children are collateral damage".

Ms Cohen turned to The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA), a charity which runs a helpline and provides online support.

In 2019 NACOA received 23,729 calls, emails and letters, with the number of contacts growing to 26,876 in 2021.

The charity has also seen thousands more people getting in touch through its website and social media channels.

NACOA, which is funded by donations and run by volunteers also received money from the government for three years, but that ended before the pandemic.

Josh Connolly, an ambassador for NACOA whose father died from alcohol related illness, said children as young as five were calling the helpline.

"So many children are calling to talk about things they have done at school or their successes or struggles," he said.

"These children are absolutely being failed by the government to have funding cut in the way it was."

The charity is calling on the government to reinstate its funding as demand for their support is growing.

"To have that funding cut and go back to existing in a society that provides no funding for charities that support children affected by their parents' drinking is a huge failure."

In reply, the government said it had invested £7.2m in the last four years.

The government said it had backed NACOA financially to expand its helpline and increase its work in schools.

Alcohol Change UK said the pandemic had a massive impact on drinking.

The charity's chief executive Dr Richard Piper said: "It's so important that we have access to high-quality, early support - and this needs to be available to us all, including the children and families affected by a loved one's drinking.

"We need an urgent set of policies from the government to tackle alcohol harm and we need them now."

Charities say some parts of England are better than others when it comes to supporting families affected by alcohol abuse.

A government spokesperson said: "Over the next three years, we are allocating over £530m to local authorities for substance misuse treatment and recovery services.

"All local authorities will be able to use this funding to invest in their own children and families programmes."

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