Children of Alcoholics Awareness Week
Become the Star in the Life of the Child
February 14-20, 2016
Join the national – and international – awareness campaign to break the painful silence and offer hope to the vulnerable children and teenagers impacted by parents who are struggling with addiction. By “shining brightly” in the lives of these children, caring adults can help by listening, by believing in the child, and by modeling healthy behaviors and demonstrating options for healthy living. Because it is hard to know which children are impacted at times, like a star in the darkness an adult can stand as a beckon for children who may be suffering silently and alone, in the darkness of fear. NACoA invites you, or your organization, to recognize COA Awareness Week, and “become the star in the life of a child.”
Why COA Awareness Week?
-One in four children lives in a family touched by addiction
-Caring adults can change the course of a child’s life
-Judges can take the first step to initiate dramatic change in addicts and their families
-The science validates the varying levels of emotional and personal damage to developing children
-Knowledge/validation of a child’s reality begins the healing process
-Many people are unaware of how much alcohol is “too much”
-Neighbors need to know that children nearby may live in hidden chaos caused by parental drinking
-Children/teens need to know who the “safe people” are they can trust in their schools
-Faith Community leaders need more education about addiction, and its impact on young members of their congregation, in order to break the silence by speaking about it and family recovery.
-Aunts and uncles, aware when a sister or brother drinks too much, may need to reach out to support their own nieces/nephews.
For Mor eInformation on COAs:
COA FACT SHEET on ADDICTED PARENTS
TAKE ACTION!
Raise Awareness Around the Impact of Addiction on the Family
2015 Meritorious Service Award Winner
The Moyer Foundation – Camp Mariposa was selected to receive NACoA's 2015 Meritorious Service Award which recognizes outstanding programming and advocacy by a NACoA affiliate to raise public awareness of the needs of children of alcoholics (COAs) during Children of Alcoholics Week. The 2016 award winner will be announced in June.
Under the Influence: Kids of Alcoholics, , the NICK NEWS with Linda Ellerbee program aired nationally during last year’s COA week. This powerful broadcast, featuring adolescent children of alcoholic parents sharing their pain, fears, sense of abandonment - and hope - as they struggled through life with an alcoholic parent, is available now on TeenNick. The Lucky Duck Productions & Linda Ellerbee received the Beamer Award from the Betty Ford Center Foundation for this documentary.
The Village Fog
There are two types of fog that cause a strong impact on the children of this Alaskan village. The first a thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth’s surface that obscures or restricts visibility. The second arrives on Friday nights in the form of an Alcohol and Drug truck delivery. See and hear the children in one Alaska town name their reality and ask parents to “Please Stop.”
Fragile Childhood
A video from NACoA Deutschland’s website depicting the way a child’s observations at home changed their view of “playing house.”
Tools for COA Week Activities
COA Week celebrates the recovery of the many thousands of children (of all ages) who have received the help they needed to recover from the pain and losses suffered in their childhood, and it offers hope to those still suffering from the adverse impact of parental alcohol and drug addiction through educational programs, proclamations by mayors and governors, poster contests in schools, and radio, television and print media. Tools and suggestions can be found below.
- Suggested Activities and Resources for COA WEEK
- Sample Proclamation
- Children of Alcoholics: A Guide to Community Action
- Pamphlets
- Posters
Educational DVD: Lost Childhood: Growing Up In An Alcoholic Family A half-hour award-winning documentary showing young children of alcoholics who speak about their experiences with an honesty and wisdom beyond their years. DVD and viewers’ guide now available through NACoA.