Parent to Parent: Alcoholic Parents

WSVN -- Laura C. will be the first to tell you she drove drunk with her kids in the car.

Laura C.: "I actually fooled myself into thinking I could drive better a little buzzed. I was relaxed and I know I'm not the only one.

Laura was never arrested, but we've seen our fair share of arrests here in South Florida.

Judge: "You passed out in the drivers seat of the vehicle while it was running in the driveway of your home."

In October, a Cooper City mom was found unconscious in her car while her children wandered alongside a busy road.

Then, another mom arrested. This homestead mom passed out in her car on the side of the road with her young son, daughter and nephew in the backseat.

Experts like Dr. Val say it happens more than you think.

Dr. Val: "This is a major problem where parents will drink not even alcoholic parents, but just drinking and getting in the car with their children, it's wrong."

And parents like Laura say once you do sober up you realize how much damage your drinking did to your children.

Laura C.: My daughter who is now six she definitely has some abandonment issues."

Laura says she got help through a 12 step program, and now she tours the country sharing her special brand of recovery music with others.

Laura C.: "It's raw and it's real and it comes from an honest place of struggle."

Dr. Val says if parents get help like Laura did, they can send a very strong message to their children.

Dr. Val: "What you show your child is that you can change and grow, and that there's never a stopping point."

Lynn Martinez: "It's estimated that one out of four kids live at home with an alcoholic adult."

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