Money To Help Children of Addicts

Now if we can just get some money in Colorado to help the addicts.

Children of parents or siblings addicted to alcohol or drugs often feel their loved one’s addiction is their fault.

Many times those children internalize the problems so much that they become alcohol or drug addicts themselves, care providers say.

Today, a prevention and educational program aimed at teaching children ages 7 to 12 that others’ addictions are not their fault and they can’t cure it for loved ones was announced in Denver.

The program, The Betty Ford Center Colorado Children’s Center, received a $1.5 million grant from the Daniels Fund to expand the program in Colorado. The Center has programs in Dallas and Rancho Mirage in California.

Mary Pat Woodard, coordinator for the program in Colorado, said the Center started a pilot program in Colorado in 2003 and has helped about 300 Colorado children so far through monthly programs.