One in three children live with a binge-drinking parent

Almost 300,000 children live with a “harmful” drinker, according to a new report which outlines the impact of adult drinking on young people’s lives.

Silent Voices: Supporting children and young people affected by parental alcohol misuse also finds that 22 per cent of children, more than 2.5 million, live with a “hazardous” drinker.

The study has been carried out by Dr Maggie Atkinson, England’s Children’s Commissioner.

The research defines hazardous drinkers as people whose drinking increases “the risk of harmful consequences to the user or others”. Harmful drinking, meanwhile, is drinking that results in consequences for physical and mental health.

It is estimated that over 1.5 million people in England and Wales are alcohol dependant and the study also finds that nearly one in three children, around 3.5 million, live with at least one parent who is a binge-drinker.