The National Association for Children of Addiction, or NACoA, supports children and families affected by familial substance use and equips the adults and professionals who serve them.
For more than 40 years, NACoA has provided practical resources, professional training, advocacy, and hope for people affected by alcohol and drug use within their families.
When substance use affects a family, children may experience confusion, fear, instability, or shame without understanding what is happening around them.
They may believe they caused the problem. They may feel responsible for fixing it. They may stay silent because they do not know who they can trust or how to explain what is happening at home.
NACoA helps children and families understand three important truths:
With the right information and support, children can better understand their experiences without carrying responsibility that was never theirs.
NACoA provides accessible information, resources, and programs for children, teens, adults affected by childhood experiences, parents, caregivers, and other family members.
These resources help people understand how substance use can affect an entire family and identify practical steps toward support and healing.
Find SupportA teacher, counselor, healthcare provider, faith leader, coach, social worker, or trusted family friend may be the first person to recognize that a child needs support.
NACoA provides training, educational materials, program tools, and professional guidance so adults can respond with greater understanding and confidence.
Explore Programs and TrainingNACoA brings the experiences and needs of children affected by familial substance use into professional education, public policy, community programs, and national conversations.
We work with experts, organizations, service providers, and advocates to improve how systems recognize and support children and families.
NACoA supports people at every point in their experience with familial substance use.
Resources help young people understand what is happening within their families, recognize that they are not responsible, and identify safe adults who can support them.
NACoA provides information and support for adults who are beginning to understand how growing up with familial substance use shaped their experiences.
Families can find practical guidance for supporting a child, strengthening relationships, and helping someone affected by a loved one’s substance use.
NACoA offers training and tools for educators, healthcare professionals, treatment providers, counselors, social workers, faith communities, early childhood professionals, court personnel, and others who serve children and families.
NACoA’s mission is to eliminate the adverse impact of alcohol and drug use on children and families.
NACoA envisions a world in which no child who struggles because of familial substance use is left unsupported.
NACoA was created to bring focused national attention to children affected by a parent or family member’s alcohol or drug use.
For more than four decades, NACoA has brought together experts, professionals, advocates, volunteers, and people with lived experience to improve the resources and systems available to children and families.
Our work includes professional training, program development, public education, advocacy, technical assistance, and partnerships with organizations in the United States and around the world.
Through every stage of that work, our focus has remained the same: helping children receive the understanding, support, and hope they deserve.
NACoA’s work is guided by people who share a commitment to children and families.
Our founders, board members, staff, advisors, affiliates, volunteers, and professional partners bring experience in education, healthcare, treatment, child development, social services, faith communities, advocacy, and family support.
Together, they help ensure that children affected by familial substance use are included in the conversations, programs, and systems that shape their lives.
A child’s experience can change when the right person knows how to respond.
Whether you are looking for support, serving children and families, or helping fund this work, you can help ensure that children affected by familial substance use are not left to navigate it alone.
