VERSAILLES, Ky. (LEX 18) — One man spoke with LEX 18 about how his decades-long battle with drugs and alcohol tore his family apart.
Now he has an organization to help kids that are watching their parents go through the same struggles.
"I was in active addiction for 28 years. I took my kids to shoplift when they thought they were going to get ice cream," said Andrew Hager.
"I harmed them and caused a lot of trauma. It wasn't the tangible things, it was the intangible things because my kids wondered if their father was okay, if he's eaten, if he's alive," he said.
Now sober, he founded Blameless kids, an organization to give kids of parents in an active addiction a chance to share their stores.
Giving a voice to kids who often suffer in silence like Reilly Smith.
"My dad is an addict. He's been an addict my entire life. That was always really hard for me," said Smith.
"When I spoke here for the first year, I found out it was all these kids going through the same thing and I've built so many good relationships," said Smith.
Blameless Kids partnered with Cosplay For A Cause so kids could meet superheroes, while they wait for the other heroes in their lives to recover.
"They don't care who we are in real life. It's a chance for them to take pictures and meet their heroes and for them a chance to know that heroes are out there," said participant Richard Ratcliff.
As the event grows every year, so does the organization's passion to keep kids safe and make their voices heard.
