A.A. cooperates with courts without becoming part of the court system
Courts and treatment programs may refer or require people to attend A.A. meetings. A.A. can welcome the person and cooperate with the referral process while remaining independent, nonprofessional, and focused on recovery from alcoholism.
The official A.A.W.S. material separates the court’s authority from the A.A. group’s responsibility: the court sets legal requirements; A.A. sets its membership and meeting boundaries; each group decides whether to verify attendance; and A.A. does not monitor or report a person’s recovery.
A.A. cooperates by making recovery experience available
Cooperation with the professional community has been an objective of A.A. since our beginnings.
(A.A. as a Resource for Drug and Alcohol Court Professionals)
A.A. members and service committees may explain A.A., provide meeting information, welcome referrals, and share personal experience with alcoholism and recovery. Cooperation gives a referred person access to A.A.; it does not make A.A. an agency of the court.
A court referral does not disqualify a prospective member
A.A. does not discriminate against any prospective member.
Tradition Three keeps the membership requirement a desire to stop drinking.
(If You Are a Professional; The Twelve Traditions)
A person may first arrive because a judge, probation officer, employer, treatment program, family member, or inner discomfort applied pressure. The source of that pressure neither bars the person from A.A. nor grants membership. Membership remains the person’s own relationship to a drinking problem and desire to stop drinking.
A.A. responds to the problem drinker, not the authority behind the referral
A.A.W.S. identifies the problem drinker who elicits our concern.
(If You Are a Professional)
A.A. does not decide whether a court order is justified, predict who will recover, or enforce the referral. Its role is to present A.A. accurately and make its recovery experience available to the alcoholic who may want it.
Court referrals must respect open and closed meeting boundaries
Nonalcoholics may attend open A.A. meetings as observers
; A closed meeting is for A.A. members only, or for those who have a drinking problem and have a desire to stop drinking.
(Information on Alcoholics Anonymous; Frequently Asked Questions About A.A.)
A referral does not override the meeting type. Open meetings can receive observers and referred attendees; closed meetings retain the A.A. membership and drinking-problem boundary stated by A.A.W.S.
A court information session is not an A.A. group meeting
A.A.W.S. tells members conducting court classes or meetings about A.A. to explain that these are not regular A.A. meetings
and that A.A. remains totally independent of a court or other enterprise.
(A.A. Guidelines on Cooperating with Court, D.W.I. and Similar Programs)
An informational presentation can explain A.A. to court personnel or referred people, but it does not become a regular A.A. group, create A.A. membership, or place the presentation under court ownership of the A.A. program.
Attendance verification is decided locally by each group
For proof of attendance, A.A.W.S. says, There is no set procedure.
Each group has the right to choose whether or not to provide proof of attendance.
(Is proof of attendance at meetings provided?)
A group may decline, sign or initial a supplied slip, or use another method it accepts. The referred person is responsible for returning the proof. A signature acknowledges attendance according to that group’s practice; it does not guarantee sobriety, certify participation for the entire meeting, or affiliate the group with the court.
A.A. does not monitor a court client or report recovery progress
A.A.W.S. lists Keep attendance records or case histories
and Provide progress reports on court clients to the referring agency
among the things A.A. does not do. (If You Are a Professional; A.A. as a Resource for Drug and Alcohol Court Professionals)
Attendance acknowledgment is not case management. A.A. does not supervise legal compliance, maintain a court file, evaluate a member’s recovery, or send progress judgments back to the referring authority.
A.A. does not provide letters of reference to the court
A.A.W.S. includes Provide letters of reference to parole boards, lawyers, court officials
among the services A.A. does not provide. (Information on Alcoholics Anonymous)
An A.A. group can cooperate with an accepted attendance-verification request, but it does not recommend a person to a judge, lawyer, probation officer, or parole board. That boundary keeps A.A. from becoming an evaluator or advocate in the person’s legal case.