01/10/2026
A parent watching their child struggle with active addiction can experience a painful mixture of love, fear, helplessness, anger, grief, guilt, and hope. It can feel like mourning someone who is still alive—because the child they remember may seem increasingly distant, while the addiction takes up more and more of their life
“I love my child, but I hate what addiction is doing to them—and to all of us.”
“Every time the phone rings, my heart stops.”
“I’m grieving someone who is still alive.”
“You can’t understand the helplessness of watching your child destroy their life while knowing you can’t make them stop.”
“There are days when I’m angry with them, terrified for them, and desperately worried about them—all at the same time.”
“The hardest thing I’ve had to learn is that loving my child does not mean I can save them.
“I don’t want a perfect child. I just want my child back—and, more than anything, I want them alive.”
There is a loneliness in loving a child through addiction that few people understand.
Dungiven Addiction Support Group — together, we support each other.
