Formal and informal help-seeking by Australian parents who misuse alcohol

Parental substance misuse has a pervasive impact on family functioning, parenting, and ultimately, child wellbeing and development. Subsequently, linkages with informal and formal support networks are crucial for ameliorating risk. To facilitate engagement with these families prior to identification in child protection systems, it is vital to understand factors inhibiting and promoting engagement with informal and formal support. This paper examines how different factors influence informal and formal help-seeking in regards to parenting and family concerns among parents who misuse alcohol. Parents reporting alcohol-problems in a clinical range (n = 322) were drawn from a representative parent sample (n = 1,991). Alcohol misusing parents reported low help-seeking for parenting-focused support services. Findings particularly highlight the role of age, education, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, parenting stress, empowerment, and trust in support services for predicting parents’ help-seeking. The results presented in this paper have clear practice and policy implications:  The role of practitioners working in family welfare and child protection services in identifying and facilitating support for these families.  Promotion of parenting-focused support services, especially for vulnerable parent populations.  Education of service providers along with the wider community to foster and increase trust and support uptake before families become involved with statutory systems.