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Below is a copy of letter from a special worker at
Fellowship Services in the World Service Office (NAWS)
concerning verification attendance cards and court cards in NA
meetings. It has good guidance for how PI committees and groups
can deal with the effects of signing these cards.
NAWS Response Letter
Dear Friend,
Your letter asking about verification attendance cards and
court cards in NA meetings has been received. Below, we’ve
included some general information about them as you requested.
Also enclosed, is an article from NAWS Annual Report, June 1999,
entitled “Drug Courts: A Public Information Success Story”. All
of this information should be helpful to your group in reaching
a decision about accommodating people from either a drug court
program or a treatment center who are requesting verification of
their attendance at an NA meeting.
Over the past several years, NA at the local, regional, and
world levels has been making a concerted effort to improve our
public image. This has been done by informing government
agencies and the public, including drug courts, about who and
what we are, and that NA is a viable method of recovery from the
disease of addiction. Our experience is that drug courts are a
valuable resource for addicts and they often help addicts find
NA. When drug courts, any other part of the judicial system, or
treatment centers send addicts to open or closed NA meetings, we
can view it as an opportunity to carry our message of recovery.
Most NA meetings do make provisions for signing court cards, but
some do not. It’s up to each individual meeting to decide.
When problems do occur, they are almost always the result of
a lack of information. Most often, drug court officers don’t
really know: what open or closed NA meetings are; how the court
can utilize NA meetings in their work; what happens in an NA
meeting; the importance of confidentiality and anonymity in our
meetings; or that we do not report on a person’s recovery or
what they say in a meeting. In these cases, we try to provide
accurate information to court officials about what NA is and is
not and what our practices and principles are. In each case
where problems occurred, they were remedied by a willing NA
service committee that met with the appropriate court officials
a few times and provided this information.
We cooperate with court officials by informing them about the
location of NA meetings, our reliance on anonymity, and the
importance of maintaining our independence from courts and
government agencies. We also let them know that a decision to
sign cards may vary from meeting to meeting, and a signed card
only means that the individual showed up at the NA meeting. Your
area service committee may want to ask the H&I and PI
subcommittees to work together in contacting the probation and
parole departments to discuss NA, our traditions, and what we
do. It is extremely beneficial to help them understand that a
signed court card means only that a person attended that NA
meeting and that we do not assume responsibility for their
recovery.
As an example, anonymity in NA meetings is something we ask
everyone to respect, including drug courts. But, sometimes court
officials don’t fully understand the role anonymity plays in NA.
In these cases, our PI committees can visit these officials and
explain that we ask all people who attend an NA meeting to
respect the anonymity of others and not to repeat what someone
shares in a meeting. It helps so much when we explain that
addicts rely on an atmosphere that is safe from public
disclosure in NA meetings, and that if we don’t respect
everyone’s anonymity then addicts won’t want to seek recovery in
NA. After this kind of education and discussion, we normally
receive full cooperation from drug court officials because they
know what is reasonable to expect.
It is helpful to remember that our purpose remains the same
no matter why an addict comes to our meetings – to carry the
message to addicts. Our literature states "We are not interested
in what or how much you used, what you have done in the past,
how much or how little you have, only in what you want to do
about your problem and how we can help." Our Third Tradition
states that the only requirement for membership is a desire to
stop using. So, when someone chooses to come to an NA meeting,
it is not up to us to decide whether or not his or her
motivation is acceptable. Many of our members made it to NA
through encouragement from our jobs, families, or the legal
system.
We do know that it is common practice in most areas of our
fellowship for these cards to be signed. There is nothing in the
traditions to prohibit any member from simply signing these
cards for individuals who want them signed. It is not an
endorsement of an outside enterprise nor an affiliation with a
government agency to sign cards for people who have been
directed to attend our meetings. It is simply one of the ways
that many NA members and meetings cooperate with potential
members and carry the message of recovery to addicts. Our
members do not attest to anyone’s state of recovery, perform
urine tests, or verify clean dates. However, if the individual
wants to verify his own attendance at an NA meeting, we can
cooperate with him by signing his card.
When individuals ask that their court card be signed, usually
the meeting secretary or some other group officer is glad to
sign it at the end of the meeting. The most common method used
by NA groups is to ask that anyone with a court card place it in
the Seventh Tradition basket as it is passed. They are then
informed that these cards will be signed and available for them
to pick up at the end of the meeting. Most NA members sign cards
with their first name and last initial. If the secretary,
treasurer or group leader is uncomfortable with signing their
first name and last initial, they have the option of only
writing the name, date and time of the meeting. Another option
that has been used is for the group to have a group stamp made
up, and simply to stamp the card so that no one individual needs
to sign it.
If the group makes the decision that it definitely does not
want to sign court cards, then this should be announced at the
beginning of each meeting so anyone in attendance with a court
card has the option of looking for another meeting where cards
are signed.
I hope this information is helpful to you. We send you our
best wishes and thanks for writing to NA World Services.
In fellowship,
(Signed by special worker)
WSO Fellowship Services
Encl: NAWS Drug Court article
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