Children, alcohol and violence CHALVI Project

Transcription

1 Teuvo Peltoniemi & Antti Järventaus Children, alcohol and violence CHALVI Project Finnish-German Media Seminar on "Alcohol, Drugs and Violence", Häckers Kurhotel, Bad Ems, Germany, 7-10 September 2006

2 Violence and children Child abuse or maltreatment (neglect) "constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power." (WHO, 2002) Witnessing violent parent behavior Witnessing excessive drinking of parents In 10 % of alcohol families: insecure 20-40%,afraid of parents 20-30%, abused 10-20% Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) "An extreme example of interest conflict between adults and children"

3 Prevalence Up to 7.7 million children in the 15 old EU-countries plus Norway live in families with alcohol problems. (McNeill, 1998) In Finland alcohol family children (Peltoniemi, 2005) In Germany the estimated number is 2.65 million (Klein et al., 2003) One-third of children of substance misusing parents suffer from violence on a regular basis. (Klein & Zobel, 2000) Up to 2.5 million children in Europe, who suffer from the coexistence of both excessive parental alcohol use and violence within the family.

4 Co-existence In Finland, alcohol as the background factor of child protection cases has grown over the recent years. The number of child protection cases has also increased steadily. The Finnish police reports on an increase of more than 8 percent in domestic disturbance calls mostly due to familial violence between 2004 and 2005, reflecting the negative consequences of the tax cut in According to a 2005 poll by Central Union for Child Welfare in Finland, Finns see parental alcohol use and family violence as the biggest threats to children's well-being.

5 Harms experienced Children in families with alcohol problems are subjected to constant stress and insecurity. Neglected children may suffer from denial of basic needs like food, security and medical care, as well as from emotional isolation. Impact of physical violence includes injuries like bruises, burns, fractures and stress-related symptoms, like sleeping disorders. In extreme cases physical violence can lead to fatal injuries.

6 Harms experienced The long-term harms experienced by children affected by parental substance misuse and violence range from low self-esteem, identity problems and feeling of insecurity to permanent physical and neurological injuries, including FAS. Children themselves are exposed to increased risk of socially inherited substance misuse and violent behaviour. Costs to the society are difficult to measure, but even the ethical perspective and the priority of children's needs calls for helping.

7 Missing help Many children in risky families desperately hope to get help from outside of the family, as here the normal procedure, children seeking help from the parents, is not possible. All too often there's no external help available, and the psycho-social work only meets the tip of the iceberg.

8 Challenges The biggest challenges of today are 1. Raising awareness of the extent and severity of the problem among professionals, families and the public at large. 2. Encouraging professionals working with children to better identify the children of families with alcohol problems and violence and equipping them to take right action. 3. Bridging the gaps between different professionals and institutions. 4. Building seamless service chain for the children.

9 CHALVI Project

10 CHALVI basics The CHALVI project, coordinated by A-Clinic Foundation, is a joint venture of 10 organisations in 8 EU countries (BE, EST, FIN, GER, IRE, ITA, NL, UK). It is implemented by the European ENCARE Network and financed by the Daphne II EU programme. It collects proven successful solutions to helping a child, good practices, and distributes them to the professionals on the field through a web platform at and other means.

11 Targets The goal of the project is to raise public discussion as well as bring together professionals and experts from various academic and professional fields to develop new ways of helping the child. CHALVI aims to address all professionals and decision makers from the grassroots level professionals to the members of the European Parliament.

12 What s left when it s over? By early 2008 the project will have produced 1. a guideline knowledge database for good practice examples, 2. strong national networks across the eight partner countries, 3. a community platform for the national and international networks, and 4. a media awareness campaign in the partner countries.

13 ENCARE Network ENCARE (European Network for Children Affected by Risky Environments within the Family) is a European initiative. Gathers experts and professionals from all EU countries. Builds national, multidisciplinary networks across Europe. Organises international symposiums for professionals on the field (next in Bad Honnef, German in April 2007). Currently running 3 projects, one application submitted. First project completed in First book to be published in 2007 by the Oxford University Press

14

15 Contact For further information, please contact: Project Coordinator Antti Järventaus Project Leader Teuvo Peltoniemi