As if raising healthy, welladjusted kids in today’s world didn’t present us with enough challenges. Over and over again community members working within their neighborhoods and with our community groups share their feelings of helplessness, frustration and even fear when it comes to keeping up with their youth. Who are they with? Are they at a party? Are they using alcohol or drugs? Data from Lincoln High school students tells us that most often (77.89%) people are drinking or using illicit substances at someone else’s home, the second most common is in a car (51.6%), the third is open areas (30.88%) and fourth is in their own home (29.76%).

For more than a year now, the Lancaster County Community Groups have been organized and actively planning prevention and environmental strategies to address these issues in six Lincoln neighborhoods and 4 Lancaster County communities. Establishing the Safe Homes Parent Network in each community and county-wide unites these groups with a project that will not only encourage environmental change, but also open a line of communication among parents all across Lancaster County.

“I see the Safe Homes project as a working group of committed parents who value integrity and care about the welfare of their teens,” says Cheryl Morton, a member of the Safe Homes Team at Lincoln East High School. “Being a Safe Home sends a strong message that ‘I am concerned about teen alcohol/drug abuse, and I am willing to take a stand by publicly supporting a message of zero tolerance for my teen and their peers.’ There is so much pressure to conform to the societal messages that we should be ‘tolerant’. Being able to drink or use drugs is a choice that an informed and educated adult must make when their time comes, not something WE as parents allow. We as parents must also acknowledge that we need to open our eyes to the problems created by underage drinking/drugging, and realize that in the best of homes, our kids are at risk. Safe Homes gives us the opportunity to address our values with our teens, and let them know what we will and will not tolerate and to present a united front as responsible parents. The problems will not go away by just looking the other way!”

Safe Homes is a program that can be started within school communities, neighborhoods, or community group. It creates a network of parents, guardians and community members working together for drug-free, violence-free youth and who pledge to:

• Actively supervise all gatherings of youth in their homes or on their property, or ask another responsible adult for help to do so.

• Not allow the possession or use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or other drugs, or the use of violence by youth in their home or on their property.

• Set expectations for their children by knowing where they are, whom they are with, what they are doing, and when they are to return home. Those who commit to joining the Lancaster County Safe Homes Parent Network are expected to:

• Set age appropriate guidelines for their children.

• Actively enforce a clear, consistent message for all youth that there will be NO USE of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, other drugs or violence.

• Talk to the parents of their children’s friends and agree upon rules for their children and consequences for a child who breaks the rules.

• Provide support for all parents to develop safe, healthy, drug-free and violence-free homes and communities.

The Lincoln High community is just one of the locations where Safe Homes was introduced last fall. “I think this program is a great way to help parents communicate with each other,” says Lincoln High Principal, Dr. Mike Wortman. “It provides a tool for them to talk to other parents and to collaborate as they are making tough decisions that all parents have to make while their kids are in high school.”

Lancaster County Community Group members will be visible in the next few months at school open houses and events, churches and other places where parents are to answer questions and hand out pledge forms. Each group will then compile a list within their community thus providing a directory of “Safe Homes”.

Directories will be combined across Lancaster County and be available to other Safe Homes families via the Lincoln Council on Alcoholism and Drug’s website. The network and directory will make it easier for parents to know where their youth are going and whom to contact. Parents are encouraged to call ahead and verify the plans, making sure no drugs or alcohol will be available and that a responsible adult will be there to supervise.

True drug prevention is possible only when all segments of society support and enforce clear, consistent no-use messages for children regarding alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and violence. Parents working together to support and encourage one another make the endless job of building a safe community easier.

If you are interested in being a part of the Lancaster County Safe Homes Network, or would like to start a group at your elementary or middle school, call Lincoln Council on Alcoholism and Drugs at 475-2694.