Families in Recovery

I'd be lying if this one didn't get to me. A dad, drunk past thinking, took his two daughters, 15-month-old Santana and three-year-old Kaydence, out into howling -50 degree winds while they were wearing nothing but diapers and t-shirts. He stumbled through the storm, losing his kids out in the snow where they froze to death. He made it to a friends with frostbite and hypothermia.

Alcoholism. A man killed his children, his babies, because he was too drunk to think. Alcoholism.

So many of us who come from alcoholic homes suffer through pain and terror, instability and uncertainty, shame and more shame. These kids, these babies, paid the highest price of all. It does not dimish the rest of our experiences, but it does highlight the risks we as a society seem willing to accept as the price of not taking the disease of alcoholism seriously enough. Santana and Kaydence, mere babies, died because alcoholism flourishes all around and our culture reacts with sadness, anger and pain, but not with the resolve to do the hard work of ensuring this will not happen again.

It is my belief that if we are going to really confront alcoholism's impact on society, we need to do the following:

1. We need universal access to the highest standards of drug, alcohol, and family alcoholism treatment.
2. We need a system-wide approach (including schools, employers, insurance, social service, and government) to help kids brought up by alcoholic parents who are at serious potential risk for neglect, abuse, and yes, even death.
3. We need a broad-based, community-wide dialogue on the role alcohol plays in so many societal ills, including domestic violence, driving accidents, sexual assault, and heart disease to name a few.

It is time to start the hard work of recovery and healing for our whole society. Who's with me?