NCJ Number
125336
Journal
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly Volume: 6 Issue: 3/4 Dated: (1989) Pages: 1-25
Date Published
1989
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study randomly sampled alcohol and drug program administrators in four U.S. regions to determine whether services are provided to children of chemically-impaired parents.
Abstract
Chemical dependency treatment programs in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Minnesota, and California were selected for study, and 114 program administrators responded to a survey questionnaire or a response rate of 28.5 percent. Because youth from addicted families are at risk of becoming chemically dependent themselves, data were gathered to determine if treatment programs attempted to reduce that risk by serving clients' children. Findings showed that most treatment centers do not routinely offer direct therapeutic services to youth of impaired parents. The most frequent assistance for such youth involves providing them with lists of community Alateen meetings. Consequently, data indicate that the children of parents in alcohol and drug treatment programs may be a vastly underserved population. It is suggested that direct treatment services for children of alcoholics and drug addicts can make a significant contribution to the fields of child welfare and addictionology. An appendix lists items and response categories on the survey questionnaire. 38 references, 5 tables, 1 figure.