Examining representations of and responses to children affected by parental alcohol consumption in Australian health and social policy

INTRODUCTION: Australian policy texts articulate priorities aimed at addressing policy 'problems'. Over two decades of research in Australia and internationally identifies, as a problem, ways in which children may be affected by their parents' alcohol consumption. This raises the question of how this problem is represented in Australian policy. METHODS: The poststructuralist WPR approach was applied to an analysis of nine Australian national health and social policy texts to critically interrogate problem representations of relations between children's adverse experiences and parental alcohol consumption. FINDINGS: Our analysis identified that across the policies, the key 'problem' was represented to be a problem of parental alcohol consumption causing children's adverse experiences. Underlying these constructions are moral judgements reflecting societal norms on acceptable alcohol consumption. Parental alcohol consumption is framed as a 'risk factor' for child maltreatment, implying that consumption is an intrinsic harm to children. Additionally, 'parents' are referred to in a gender-neutral way, erasing men's disproportionate role in drinking and related harms. Finally, personal responsibility is emphasised while social and structural determinants of health are largely ignored. CONCLUSIONS: The constructions of parents who drink and their children in national policy texts have implications for the framing and justification of policy actions. The neglect of consideration of elements such as gender, disadvantage and the social determinants of health represents a significant policy silence. This silence, we argue, constrains the scope of potential policy responses and limits government responsibility and accountability.