Kids call helpline when parents are drunk
CHILDREN as young as five are phoning a helpline to hear bedtime stories when their parents are too drunk to put them to bed.
Some youngsters call the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa) so often that their favourite story books are kept by the phones.
There are 2.5million children of alcoholics in the UK – with MPs branding it a “secret scandal”. Nacoa received 32,000 calls and emails from kids last year.
Chief executive Hilary Henriques said one fiveyear-old girl’s mother had locked herself in the bathroom overnight. When paramedics arrived, they found the woman had died.
Another girl, aged seven, rang while hiding from her drunk parents under her bed on Christmas Day.
She was cold, scared, had received no presents and wanted to hear a story about her imaginary friend – a dog called Bruce.
Regular callers often request classic Disney tales, while the Horrid Henry books and Roald Dahl are also popular.
Henriques said: “The children like to hear a made-up story because this helps to get across the message that things can be different from the life they live at the moment, which is really the cornerstone of what we do – keep hope alive.”
Nacoa are marking Children of Alcoholics week following the launch of a manifesto by MPs calling on the Government to take action.