Your child’s well-being is your first priority, but you may not be aware of the best ways to keep your child healthy and safe. Your influence is stronger than you may think. Becoming well-informed about substance use problems can help you teach your child to make positive decisions, and becoming active in your community can contribute to protecting other children and adults from the harms of drug and alcohol use.

Action Steps

• Know where your child is at all times. Make an agreement with your child that you will always call the home of the friend he or she is going to visit.
  
  
• Encourage your child to invite their friends to your home so you can get to know them.
  
  
• Engage your child in an open and mutual dialogue about the dangers of substance use and promote healthy decision making.
  
  
• Pledge that you will always be available to give your child a ride if none of his or her friends are sober and able to drive. You can find more information about this idea at the SADD Contract for Life website.
  
  
• Get involved in the parent-teacher organization. Encourage discussions with other parents and pledge to agree that no parent will purchase alcohol for or allow underage teens to drink in their home.
  
  
• Contact your elected officials and ask them to support relevant underage drinking legislation such as higher alcohol taxes, social host laws, keg registration programs, graduated driver's license policies, etc.
  
  
• Ask your child's physician to screen for alcohol use during annual check ups. The CRAFFT is a valid screening tool specifically designed for physicians to screen adolescents. Ask your own physician if he or she screens all patients.
  
  
• Get involved in a community coalition.

Resources

Keeping Your Kids Drug Free: A How-to Guide for Parents and Caregivers

National Parent Teacher Association

National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) materials designed for parents and teachers

Partnership for a Drug Free America, Partnering with Families

www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/parents

What others have done

A team of parents in Carroll County, Md., play an integral role in a local program to help children and parents understand that substance use disorders can affect anyone's family.

"Not My Kid" has been part of the Carroll County school system for three years. It grew out of a program in Arizona and is a collaboration of the Carroll County Board of Education, state and local police, the sheriff's department, juvenile justice, the Heroin Action Coalition of Carroll County, parents of children who have struggled with substance use disorders, and other community organizations.

Each year the program features a theatrical performance that is part of "back to school night" in the county's 36 schools. A recent performance was based on a real story of a teenager who was dropped off at his empty home after using heroin and died from an overdose.

The "Not My Kid" program also encourages parents and teenagers to use a 24-hour hotline that was established last year. The hotline number is printed on every student's school-issued identification card and on book covers distributed by the school system. The phone line is staffed by adults who can connect callers to local resources such as treatment programs, counseling programs, and other services.

Through the hotline, the school ID card, and the "Not My Kid" program, Carroll County parents hope to educate other parents and teenagers to recognize the warning signs of substance use and what to do if they suspect a friend or child has a problem.