Program Targets Children of Alcoholics, Drug Abusers : Counseling: Downey-based group is one of the few to reach out to youngsters. ‘Why wait until they grow up,’ says program director.

Mario chose the picture of a man on fire to describe how he feels when his father drinks and takes drugs. “On Fire and Angry,” the 10-year-old titled it.

The picture of a man alone on the beach said it best for Jane, whose father is an alcoholic.

“Sometimes no one talks to me when I ask questions,” said Jane, 9. “I feel far away.”

Mario and Jane, not their real names, are two of about 25 children who are receiving counseling under a free program offered by the Downey-based Southeast Council on Alcoholism & Drug Problems Inc.

There are plenty of programs that counsel the adult children of alcoholics and addicts. But the Southeast Council program is one of the few that targets young children of drunken and drugged parents. The program is for children ages 4 to 11 years old.

“Why wait until they grow up,” said Peggie L. Van Fleet, director of CODA, Children of Drug Abusers and Alcoholics. “If we can make a difference with the young ones, it will be more effective than law and order later.”

CODA, which has four part-time therapists, is run out of a classroom at the Downey Unified School District’s Steinhook Learning Center on Bellflower Boulevard.

The program is in its final year of a three-year, $480,000 grant from the federal Office of Substance Abuse Prevention. Van Fleet said she hopes to receive another $200,000 grant to keep the program going for another year before seeking funding elsewhere.

But first, CODA must meet its goal of serving 300 children by the time the grant expires Sept. 30. The program has counseled about 210 children and is actively seeking more participants. It takes three months to go through the program.

CODA receives most of its referrals from county child abuse officials, schools, hospitals and by word of mouth. Most of the participants live in the Southeast and Long Beach areas.

Teachers and school counselors often are in the best position to identify such children. Van Fleet, a marriage, family and child therapist, said the children of alcoholics and drug abusers usually react in one of two ways.

Some try to be perfect to compensate for the problems at home. They work to earn straight A’s but never feel good about themselves even if they reach that goal.

The other type become obvious problem students, inattentive, withdrawn and mistrustful. They have a poor self-image and try to hide the family secret.

CODA uses group counseling sessions to teach children about the physical dangers of substance abuse. In one simple lesson, for example, students plant seeds in two pots. They pour water on one and wine on the other. The plants soaked with wine never grow.

The program uses arts and crafts and other activities to encourage children to talk about their problems and to develop confidence, Van Fleet said.

“They’ve learned to walk on eggshells because the behavior and mood of the parents are so unpredictable,” she said.

Half of the counseling sessions are just for children. Parents join their children in the other sessions.

CODA always has had to hustle to meet its quota; many alcoholics and drug addicts refuse to admit that they have a problem and seek help, Van Fleet said.

Alcoholism and drug abuse are “really quite common in today’s families, more so than we would like to believe,” she said.

The problem exists for the six children who sat around a table in Room 6 and talked about the drug and alcohol abuse that turned their parents mean and sloppy. Some of the kids grinned and laughed. It was the first session for some and the second for others.

Therapist Anne Kellogg asked the children if their parents took alcohol or drugs.

“Everything,” one boy answered and then laughed.

“Dad and grandpa drink and smoke,” said a 9-year-old girl.

The details of family life dribbled and gushed forth as the session continued.

A 10-year-old Pico Rivera girl told of how she had tried to run away from her father, a recovering alcoholic. She was hiding out with her mother, who was carrying a knife. The mother drinks and uses cocaine.

“I had my teddy bear because every time I’m scared I take my teddy bear,” she said.

An 8-year-old Downey girl told the group that an alcoholic uncle, the girl’s father figure, had committed suicide. The girl’s mother and father, a recovering alcoholic, have split. She does not get to see much of her father.

“I miss my dad,” she said. “I don’t know if he has a girlfriend. I don’t know where he lives. I don’t know where my dad is.”

At the end, Kellogg asked the kids how they felt about the session.

“It felt a lot better to get the things I never said out,” said the girl who had sought comfort in her stuffed animal.