Parents Asked to Fight Teen Drinking
About 9,000 contracts will land in mailboxes next week asking the parents of middle and high school students to promise that all social events in the home will be supervised and substance free--meaning no alcohol, drugs or tobacco are allowed to be present.
The contracts are an attempt by the nonprofit grass-roots group Community Partners for Safer Neighborhoods to compile a Parent Pledge Directory, which is a telephone list of parents who have made a commitment to make it difficult for young people to get access to alcohol.
The pledge for adults includes not buying alcohol for minors and being truthful when another parent calls to ask the whereabouts of his or her child.
The organization targeted parents because youngsters begin drinking at 13, said the Rev. Marilyn Miller the group’s director. “It has nothing to do with kids. It’s a wake-up call to parents,” she said.
Community Partners began in 1996 as a watchdog group for liquor stores in the Pierpont and midtown areas. The organization worked with the sponsors of the directory, Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Assn. and the police, said Miller.
The group says it has the support of the Ventura Unified School District and Parent-Teachers Assn., and is funded by the Ventura County Department of Behavioral Health. The group also has compiled a list of safe entertainment venues in the city.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
