I was also raised in an alcoholic home - in my case my father. I was blessed with a wonderful mother but my father was also very violent when drinking and physically abused my mother to the point of almost killing her once. This was back in the day where no one ever spoke about alcoholism, no support groups, etc. Also no abused women's shelters.

My father never abused me - but he totally ignored me. I was terrified of him because of his violence so tried the best I could to keep out of his way. I would pull the covers over my head in bed at night and put my fingers in my ears to try to not hear my mother pleading with my father to stop hitting her, and the sounds of slapping. I know living in that situation has impacted my life negatively.

As far as the Department of Family and Children in this state I know they have extremely high caseloads. I used to interface with the caseworkers sometimes when I worked for Hospice. I thought my caseload was heavy at about 30 patients or so, but the state caseworkers average around 100!!!! I'm surprised ANYTHING gets done.

Whether being an alcoholic or living with one and all that entails is a sad situation all the way around.