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Nacoa‘s Children‘s Program Kit is a powerful tool to help children impacted by parental addiction. Designed for school-aged kids and teens (K-12) with parents struggling with substance use disorders, the kit provides over 100 skill-based and developmentally appropriate lesson plans, along with everything needed to offer a strong and effective educational support program. Improved affective and behavioral changes are noticeable as children complete programs using this comprehensive program kit.

NOW AVAILABLE

NACoA’s Grief Guidance for COAs

NACoA’s Children’s Program Kit now includes instruction and session plans for children’s programs supporting children impacted by SUDs (COAs) whose parents have died.

Across the United States, a growing number of children are grieving the loss— not only of loved ones to death—but also of connection, stability, and safety due to the far-reaching impacts of the chronic disease of addiction. More than 321,000 U.S. children lost a parent to drug overdose from 2011 to 2021; children with non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native parents experiencing the highest rates of loss. These are the “forgotten orphans,” so often overlooked and stigmatized. These kids and teens face a unique set of challenges that can make their grief especially burdensome. While the loss of a parent is always a profound and life-altering event, the death of a parent due to the chronic illness of substance use disorder carries additional layers of complexity and pain and deserves trauma-sensitive support.

Children living with parental substance use are the silent sufferers. Without direct support, education, and healing, these children are at significantly higher risk of developing their own substance use disorder in adolescence or adulthood.

Through programs created using the Kit, kids and teens:

  • Learn they are not alone, they didn’t cause it, they can’t cure it, but they can learn to cope with it.
  • Learn skills such as problem solving, finding safety, and seeking supportive services.
  • Learn to build on their strengths and to develop resilience to overcome their difficulties.

Let’s Break the Cycle Together!

Many professionals who work with children can help promote resilience in children impacted by SUDs in their families.

Schools

The Kit is designed to be used as an educational support group program at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Such groups have consistently helped meet school system goals of improved attendance, reducing tardiness, increasing academic success, reducing classroom distractions, and thus improving academic success for both the participant in the group but also in the classroom. It could be a pivotal part of a Student Assistance Program.

Faith Organizations or Weekend/Summer Community Camps

The Kit, with its flexibility and comprehensive choice of age-appropriate educational lessons, is helpful in church hosted educational programs and in weekend and summer camps as part of general information programs. The lessons are beneficial to all children and teens since one in four of the students in their class, or in their church, or at their camp is suffering from parental addiction. The Kit’s lessons teach the nature of the disease of addiction, its impact on their peers, and how to respect their pain and “be a friend.” Children are also taught that it is not their fault, that there are lots of kids in similar situations who understand, and that there are safe, caring, and responsible adults who can help.

Treatment and Recovery Programs

The Kit is designed to facilitate establishing a children’s educational group program as a critical part of a treatment and recovery support plan for clients in treatment. (Rationale: when the family, including the children of clients, begin to learn, understand, and heal from the hurt of addiction in the family, the primary client is far less likely to relapse and far more likely to stay with his/her own recovery plan. In addition, it can help to break the intergenerational transmission of SUDs and its related trauma.

Recovery Community Centers

The Kit is effective for an ongoing educational support experience for the children of parents attending the center for their own recovery and can then give their children the gift of recovery as well – in an age-appropriate comfortable and safe environment.

To order curriculum, order online or download an order form. Online, on-demand training is now an available option when ordering your curriculum! 

Contact NACoA for more information, discuss training options for implementation, or explore consultation to create a customized program. 

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