Families Anonymous 12 Traditions

We keep what we have only with vigilance.  Our group experience suggests that the unity of Families Anonymous depends upon our adherence to these Traditions:

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal progress for the greatest number depends on unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.  Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. Individuals concerned with another’s abuse of drugs or related problems of living, when gathered together for mutual aid, may call themselves a Families Anonymous group provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.  The only requirement for membership is a concern about the use of mind-altering substances or related behavioral problems of a relative or friend.
4. Each group should be autonomous, except in matters affecting other groups or FA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose: to help those concerned with someone who may have a problem of drug abuse or dependence.  We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps of this program, by encouraging and understanding those affected by this illness, and by welcoming and giving comfort to the families and friends of individuals with a current, suspected, or former drug problem.
6. Our Family Groups ought never endorse, finance, or lend our name to any outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Families Anonymous Twelfth-Step work should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. Our groups, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Families Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence our name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films and TV.  We need guard with special care the anonymity of our members, as well as those of other recovery programs.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles above personalities.