25 percent of US children have families with alcohol problems

Crime in America

An estimated 25 percent of all children in the United States (about 27.8 million) are affected by or exposed to a family alcohol problem per the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

SAMSHA encourages all who share this experience to tell their stories, see the website for the National Association of Children of Alcoholics at http://www.nacoa.org/coawkposts.htm.

This is the first time we’ve seen documentation of the number of children of alcoholics.  We have experience (through friends and loved ones) how devastating it can be to grow up with an alcoholic parent.

We’re not suggesting in any way that growing up with an alcoholic parent means you are susceptible to criminal behavior as an adult. Just the opposite, it’s our experience that the vast majority of people sharing this experience lead productive lives.

But it’s our guess (and it’s nothing more than a guess based on vicarious experience of friends and others) that a lot of “acting-out” behavior as juveniles is connected to being raised by an alcoholic parent. Drug and alcohol use and minor criminality seem connected.

Alcoholic parents are so inconsistent and undependable at times that it leads children to doubt their love and sincerity.  Our guess is that forms of neglect and abuse follow and based on what we’ve been told, we believe it to be true.

When dad drinks away the paycheck, serious issues occur.

If this is your experience, we encourage you to look at the link above and engage others. There are people who have first-hand experience with the issue who have never considered talking to anyone about it. Maybe now is the time to consider engagement.