CoHAP Week 2026 highlights a global reality affecting millions of children: growing up in households affected by alcohol use problems impacts health, safety, education, and life opportunities. Evidence shows that alcohol harm to children spans from pregnancy to adolescence, fuels violence and inequality, and reflects policy decisions by adults that shape family environments. Giving childhood a chance means advancing prevention-focused alcohol policy, protecting children’s rights, and creating the safe, supportive conditions every child needs to thrive.

Giving Childhood a Chance

Every child has a right to grow in safe, stable, and healthy conditions with the opportunity for them to thrive. Yet for millions of children around the world, everyday life takes place in homes affected by alcohol problems.

The Children of Households with Alcohol Problems (CoHAP) Week is a yearly chance to shine a light on this global health and human rights problem, to raise awareness of the situation of millions of children and their needs, and to call for policy change that gives every child a fair start in life.

Seen with the eyes of our children, the world we live in has an alcohol problem,” says Kristina Šperková, International President of Movendi International.

Kristina Šperková, International President, Movendi International

A Widespread Global Issue

Children growing up in households with alcohol problems live in every region.

  • In the United States, more than 10% of children live with a parent who has alcohol problems.
  • In the European Union, 12 million children grow up in such homes.
  • In the United Kingdom alone, 2.6 million school-age children are affected.
  • In Australia, around one million children live with at least one adult experiencing addiction.

These figures reflect only countries that measure the issue. Many governments do not systematically collect data, meaning the global scale is even larger.

Research also shows that children experience harm across the full spectrum of parental alcohol use. Harm does not depend solely on diagnosed alcohol use disorders. Regular parental alcohol use, exposure to intoxication, and alcohol-shaped norms in the home influence children’s mental health, emotional security, and development.

FIND ALL EVIDENCE HERE

How Alcohol Shapes Children’s Lives

Evidence compiled by Movendi International for CoHAP Week documents the multiple pathways through which alcohol affects children:

  • Increased risk of neglect, maltreatment, and violence.
  • Elevated likelihood of anxiety, depression, and poor mental health.
  • Academic difficulties, truancy, and school dropout.
  • Erosion of household resources, as spending on alcohol crowds out food, education, and health care – especially in low-income settings.

Studies show that more than 50% of confirmed child abuse reports and 75% of child deaths in the United States involve parental alcohol or other drug use. In Europe, 16% of child abuse and neglect cases are alcohol-related.

Alcohol also fuels domestic violence and undermines parental monitoring and positive role modelling – factors that shape children’s long-term wellbeing.

From Pregnancy to Childhood, and Adolescence

The impact begins even before birth. A landmark global study estimated that nearly 10% of women worldwide consume alcohol during pregnancy. One in 13 women who consume alcohol during pregnancy gives birth to a child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The prevalence of FASD in the general population exceeds 1% in 76 countries.

Emerging evidence also shows links between parental alcohol exposure during preconception and congenital heart disease in offspring.

In early childhood, children as young as four to eight years already recognise social norms around alcohol. This early normalisation increases the risk of earlier alcohol use initiation and more frequent use later in life.

Parental alcohol use – even at levels not classified as dependence – is linked with higher risks of anxiety and depression among adolescents. When both parents regularly consume alcohol, children are 52% more likely to develop anxiety or depression.

Alcohol Marketing and the Shaping of Harmful Norms

Children encounter alcohol marketing across television, online platforms, sports sponsorships, and product packaging. The Kids’Cam study in New Zealand found that children aged 11–13 were exposed to alcohol marketing around 12 times per day, with packaging and branding inside the home serving as major exposure sources.

Research consistently shows a direct link between exposure to alcohol marketing and earlier initiation of alcohol use. Marketing shapes expectations, attitudes, and norms – embedding alcohol in children’s social environment long before they reach adulthood.

A Human Rights Issue

The consequences extend across the life course. Adolescents growing up with parental alcohol use problems face higher risks of self-destructive behaviours, including suicide attempts. Parental alcohol problems significantly increase the likelihood that children develop alcohol problems later in life.

The evidence clearly shows that children’s rights – enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – are affected when alcohol problems shape home environments.

Growing up in an alcohol-free childhood is fundamentally a human rights issue.

What Works: Policy Change to Protect Children

The evidence also points to effective solutions. Alcohol taxation, placing common-sense limits on alcohol availability, and comprehensive advertising bans reduce alcohol consumption and related harm. These “best buys” protect children both directly and indirectly.

For example:

  • A 1% increase in state-level excise beer tax in the United States was linked with a 0.3% reduction in child abuse and a 3% reduction in domestic violence.
  • Alcohol advertising bans reduce youth exposure and delay initiation.
  • Availability limits create more alcohol-free environments that benefit children and communities.

Alcohol taxation stands out as a particularly powerful measure: it reduces population-level consumption, improves health outcomes, and generates revenue that governments can reinvest in family support, treatment services, and youth programs.

From Silence to Action

CoHAP Week 2026 calls on governments, international organisations, and communities to centre children from household with alcohol problems in alcohol policy discussions. Children benefit when prevention, treatment services for parents, early identification in schools, and social protection systems work hand in hand and are well financed.

Millions of children live with alcohol problems at home. Their wellbeing reflects the policy environments societies decide to create.

Giving childhood a chance means aligning alcohol policy with children’s rights, scientific evidence, and the shared value that every child deserves safety, dignity, and opportunity.

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