More than 10% of kids in U.S. living with parent with substance abuse problem

The Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR)at the University of Maryland reported this week, May 11, 2009 on data collected by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health that 11.9% of children in the United States live with a parent who has abused or was dependent on alcohol or an illicit drug in the last year. The younger the child the more likely the child is to be living with a parent with the disease, 14% for kids younger than 3 to 10% for kids 12 - 17.

Those of us in the field who are knowledgable have observed for a long time that the alcohol and drug problem doesn't start with kids but with their parents. How can a parent abusing or dependent on drugs themselves properly parent a child?

This data validates the idea that substance abuse is, indeed, a family disease. GCASA will be developing programming increasinly to deal with this systemic phenomenon.

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This is article #10 in a series on Substance Abuse The Family Disease.