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SAMHSA Radio News Line

Children of Parents with Addiction Often Suffer in Silence

Posted: June 25th, 2006, 5:00pm PDT

Enclosure: [download]

(BEARD OPEN):
Life can be challenging, difficult, and even dangerous for children who live with a parent who abuses, or is dependent on, alcohol or an illicit drug. Jerry Moe--national director of children's services at the Betty Ford Center--says these children are often left to go it alone, in their struggle with the effects of an adult's addiction...

(MOE):
"Everything in the family revolves around the addiction. And, often, we look upon the alcoholic or the addict as being in control, when truly they're out of control, by the very nature of the disease; it's the disease that runs the show. And, when parents are focused on their disease--you know, in the dance of development--if parental attention is focused elsewhere, there's no partner for the dance. So many of these children dance alone, in the silence and suffering; so many kids believe that they're not loved--and they're not cared for. And, the dynamic of the family certainly helps to create that."

(BEARD CLOSE):
According to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration--SAMHSA--children of alcohol- or drug-dependent parents are more likely to experience mental and physical problems--and are at a greater risk of being neglected or abused. They are also two- to four-times more likely than other children to become addicted themselves. To learn what you can do to help these children--and to break the cycle of addiction in families--visit www.samhsa.gov. For the "SAMHSA Newsline", I'm Bill Beard.

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