Parent of a Teen in Recovery

I started noticing a problem with my daughter three years ago. She was very involved with the church and got my wife and I involved as well. She was always very family oriented and did well in school. Then, her grades started slipping, she spent less time at home and stopped going to church altogether. She became angry, rebellious, and would not communicate with us. We dreaded to know the truth, yet could not disregard the signs. When we asked and confronted her, she denied she was using drugs. She got very defensive, and lashed out. Where did we go wrong?

Finally, there was a tragedy. One of her friends overdosed on some pills and died. Fearing we would reject her, she came to us and told us everything. We offered her our love and support. Although crushed by the painful truth, we felt blessed she trusted us enough to be honest. We put her in a treatment facility and got as involved as we could to be able to fully understand the disease of addiction, and to help her through this life long battle. She has been clean for 14 months. She now has her whole life ahead of her and we have our baby back. Together we are dealing with this one day at a time.