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CFC#12020
CFC#12020
No child of an alcohol or drug dependent parent should grow up locked in fear, silence, or isolation. We need your support to bring hope, help, and healing directly to hurting children. By supporting NACoA you can:
We work to inform the public and individuals who can help break the silence that traps so many children. We spread messages of love and hope, challenge the stigma, and break the rules—“don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel”—that govern a COA’s home.
Your support will help us ensure children are able to speak up and be heard.
In order to have the greatest national impact, NACoA is committed to educating decision makers and supporting policy which impacts children every day, in all levels of government and in the greater society. In doing so, we follow the dictates of our mission: “to eliminate the adverse impact of alcohol and drug use on children and families.”
Your support will help inform better decisions resulting in improved and effective services for hurting children and families.
NACOA develops and distributes the effective tools to help those hurting. Please visit our product page to see the range of resources and curriculum materials we’ve created.
Your support helps us provide a richcollection of resources created for children and families dealing with parental addiction, and the adults who help them.
Since 1983, NACOA has worked with leading professionals to develop a set of core competencies and training tools for fields of work that have access to impacted children.
Your support will help fund NACOA’s educational programs that train professionals in the tools they need to intervene appropriately and help.
Read on for the many ways caring adults who want to help, but just may not know how, can support NACoA in making a difference.
Invest in programs to provide support for children with addicted parents. Through your generosity, you can let these kids know there is hope. Help melt away the messages that have lived in these homes for generations: “Don’t talk,” “Don’t feel,” “Don’t trust.” Please consider contributing to NACoA today to help ensure no child of an alcoholic or drug dependent parent (COA) grows up locked in fear, silence, or isolation. We need your support to bring hope, health, and healing directly to children in need. With your support, we can expand prevention and recovery programs that focus on healing the whole family system with a unique and specialized focus on the children, increase public awareness of the adverse consequences impacting the children, advance the knowledge of professionals who are in the best position to identity and assist the children, influence public policy impacting COAs, and continue to be an amplified voice for children by sharing loving messages of hope and healing through multiple avenues online and other mass media outlets. Your contribution will help us break the cycle of addiction, starting by simply letting the children know “You are NOT alone.” Here are a few ways you can contribute:
Here are a few ways you can contribute:.
Make a donation online/by phone/or mail: give a general or personalized donation online securely, by phone with your credit card, or by mailing a check payable to NACoA. If you would like to make the gift in honor or memory of someone special, simply write it in on the designation line, or by printing and filling out the donation form provided here and mail to NACoA with your check.
Give us greater strength in numbers to fight the negative impacts of parental alcohol and drug abuse. Our special membership donation costs only $50 a year, and includes a 15% member discount on all NACoA products and curriculum materials. Sign up to become a member today!
Whether it’s through event sponsorship, a monetary gift or in-kind donation, corporate sponsors are a vital part of ensuring that support and hope continues to liberate children and their families from the devastation of addiction. NACoA can tailor partnerships to meet your specific interests or ability to help improve the lives of children, of families, of communities.
NACoA will not sell, share or trade donors’ names or personal information with any other entity, nor send mailings to our donors on behalf of other organizations. This policy applies to all information received by NACoA, both online and offline, on any Platform (“Platform”, includes the NACoA website and mobile applications), as well as any electronic, written, or oral communications.
Together we can raise awareness around the impact of addiction on the family, and help children in these families know “They are NOT alone!” Help is available for them. Over the years, many public figures, star athletes, and every day heroes in local communities have helped put a face on the disease of addiction. Almost daily, stories are featured in the media related to alcoholism and substance abuse; providing graphic details about the people, the circumstances and adverse affects. Overlooked and discounted in these stories are the children, still trapped in the silence of their parent’s addiction.
Until alcoholism and drug addiction are conquered, the children need our help—and yours! Together we can break the silence, and provide a powerful voice for them until they feel safe enough to find their own. By joining the conversation on social media; creating opportunities for increased dialogue through events in your home or community; or by simply signing up to volunteer with NACoA—you will directly help us bring these children out from the shadows, and closer to the support and resources they need to grow into healthy adults. Read on for ways you can do just that.
On social media, and among others in your community who may have similar questions or concerns. Follow major events and updates on our Facebook page, keep up with the latest information on Twitter, find inspiration and hope through our Pinterest posts, and share your voice on behalf of the children still stuck in silence.
In an effort to raise awareness and strengthen program funding, we encourage our supporters to host an event in their homes or somewhere in their community—it can be something as simple as inviting a small group for lunch, or starting a discussion group to talk about the ways to bring resources to the children. Please contact us if you are interested in hosting an event benefiting NACoA, and we will provide you with the necessary guidance and information brochures.
Most of NACOA’s best work came to fruition because of volunteers. Psychologists, social workers, clergy, physicians, educators and many others have contributed substantially to every major program and product developed by NACOA over the years.
SIGN UP today to VOLUNTEER—We would love to match your interests and skills with special projects we need help with!
Make a promise to be available to help a child or teenager have a healthier life.
Research tells us that children with parents dealing with alcohol or drug dependency can benefit tremendously from the positive adults in their lives who help and encourage them. You can be that adult. You can help grow healthy kids.
Rather than just watching at a distance, pondering what to do, or feeling helpless and sorry for a young girl or teenage boy who lives down the street, you can be the one to make a difference. Take action. Reach out to a hurting child. Let a teenager know you are there. Here are some ideas to help you get started.
Offer reassuring messages to let them know you care and understand their situation. Keep your message focused on the needs of the child/teen – rather than on the problems of the parent.
“I think I might be scared –and angry — if I had to take care of my baby sister if my mother was passed out on the couch. Any time you want to talk or text, know you can contact me.”
“You are not alone. There are adults who have been there too. There are people and places that can help”
Make yourself available for quality time. 15 minutes’ worth of positive conversation at the mailbox is as valuable as working together to decorate the hall for a church event. Be present and available to help kids identify and express their feelings in healthy ways.
Provide options for the child to talk with someone who is trained to help families deal with alcoholism/addiction: a teacher, school counselor, family pediatrician, a member of the clergy, or someone who provides services in the community. You can guide them toward educational support programs at school or in the community. You can inform them about Alateen. These programs will help them develop coping skills to deepen their innermost strength and resilience. Offer to help them to connect with these people or resources – then follow up.
“You can help take care of yourself by talking with a person you trust and making healthy choices in your life.”
Nurture a positive relationship that models healthy living, a healthy attitude, and safe options to respond to stressful situations. By respecting the child’s feelings, worries and dreams, and complimenting strengths and abilities, it can help broaden a child’s perspective and foster healthier ways to think and to approach the world.
“Alcohol dependency is an illness. It is not your fault. You are not responsible for fixing what is hurting your family.”
- Stephanie Abbott, MA, family counselor
In small but consistent ways, sharing messages like “you are not alone,” “there are safe people who can help,” and “someone is on your side” can help bring clarity and hope to a child or teenager in need. When you talk with them, share your feelings and explain age appropriately your own frustrations and how you resolve them. Model what healthy living – and healthy thinking – looks like. In this way, you can help raise awareness of feelings, thought processes, and life skills that may not exist at home. Inspire these children to believe that they can create a healthy life and family for themselves when they become adults. Join us in our efforts to be the voice for the children, and help break the cycle of addiction through early intervention. The child who needs you is within your reach, just a smile or a compliment away.
