Timeline
Sue Webber-Brown:
1st DEC Program
1995
Overdose deaths
at 16K+
2003
NADEC incorporated
as a nonprofit
2009
Federal Intergency
DEC Task Force
2019
COVID + Overdose
deaths 91K+
2023
1 in 4 children
are DEC
1993
Kathey Lynn James:
Landmark DEC Case
1999
NADEC is
formed
2006
Overdose deaths
rise to 36K+
2010
Overdose deaths
rise to 70K+
2020
Overdose deaths
rise to 107K+
2025
How It Started
The drug endangered children movement began in 1993, when Sue Webber-Brown, a law enforcement investigator in Butte County, California, recognized a pattern. The children in the homes she investigated were being harmed not just by neglect or abuse, but by the presence of drugs and the chaos that surrounded them. She built the first Drug Endangered Children (DEC) program, bringing together law enforcement, child protective services, and other disciplines under one coordinated response.
Her model worked. Other states took notice. By the early 2000s, DEC programs were operating across the country, but there was no national voice, no shared standards, and no central resource for the professionals doing this work. The field needed infrastructure.
Our Story
NADEC was founded on a straightforward premise: children living with a parent's substance misuse are often the first impacted and the last to receive help. Over the past two decades, NADEC has grown from a group of state leaders into the national authority on identifying and supporting drug endangered children and their families.
Sue Webber-Brown establishes the first Drug Endangered Children program in Butte County, California, using an interdisciplinary approach that becomes the model for the national movement.
State DEC leaders come together and form NADEC, the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. The goal: connect the field, build the knowledge base, and make sure communities have what they need to protect children.
The 1st National Conference for Drug Endangered Children is held.
NADEC incorporates as a nonprofit organization, establishing the foundation to grow the movement nationally.
The Obama Administration establishes the Federal Interagency Task Force on Drug Endangered Children, a recognition at the highest levels of government that this issue demands a coordinated national response. It failed to deliver results and was sadly short-lived.
NADEC is recognized by the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing for our cross-discipline training, and for the use of the DEC Approach in working with community partnerships.
CheckDEC is launched. This free app immediately connects children, families and professionals to substance use information, crisis helplines, drug and treatment information, supportive resources and local services within minutes of the user’s location.
NADEC marks 20 years as a nonprofit organization. What began as a coalition of committed practitioners is now a national leader in training, technical assistance, and advocacy for drug endangered children and their families.
NADEC includes the chapter Integrating Care for Drug Endangered Children in Homeless Families in the unique Best Practices Toolkit: Addressing Homelessness and Addiction Through 'Treatment First' released by ONDCP, HHS and HUD, successfully including children which were previously overlooked in this area.
1993
2003
2006
2010
2026
2003
2015
2019
2026
Where We Are Now
Children living with care-givers with substance use disorders face risks that cut across health, safety, education, housing and development. The adults in their lives, including law enforcement, teachers, doctors, and child welfare workers, are often the first to see the signs. Whether they know what to do next makes all the difference.
NADEC is a connector; we have an entire ecosystem that serves to transform communities. We build the knowledge of professionals, sharpen their skills, and connect them to a national community of practice. We provide ongoing assistance to communities starting or strengthening DEC Alliances and DEC programs. We bring the field together through conferences, resources, and a growing network of professionals and organizations.
The work started with one investigator who refused to look the other way. NADEC exists to make sure professionals and community members in every locale across the nation can do the same.
BUILDING ALLIANCES
Bringing agencies and communities together around a common vision and a collaborative, coordinated response.
TRAINING
Equipping people with the knowledge and skills to recognize and respond to drug endangered children.
AWARENESS
Building understanding of drug endangered children and the impact of substance misuse.
SUPPORTING MDTs
Strengthening multidisciplinary teams through ongoing support, resources and partnerships.
COMMUNITY RESPONSE
Creating collaborative, sustainable responses which protect children, and transform communities.
How can we help you?
Group of multidisciplinary professionals in a circle, hands meeting and glowing in the center.
People at a table, seeing a presentation, with paper in the foreground talking about child welfare.
Woman holding a clipboard smiling, with a large arrow pointing upward to signify growth.
Desk with stacks of books to signify resources.