In September 2017, the Literature Committee received requests for revisions to the Alateen Preamble, while at the same time the Associate Director—Group Services at the World Service Office initiated a similar inquiry. Concerns were that the existing Preamble was not welcoming or reflective of many potential Alateen newcomers. The ensuing discussion resulted in a recommendation to the Policy Committee, which led to the creation of a Task Force which included Alateen and Area-certified Alateen trusted servants to compose specific wording that would address these concerns.

After considerable research and collaboration, new wording was unanimously agreed upon by the Task Force and proposed to the Policy Committee. After the Policy Committee review, the new wording was recommended for 2021 World Service Conference (WSC) approval. Following discussion by the WSC, a motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve the changes to the Alateen Preamble. The new Preamble will appear in the next Al‑Anon/Alateen Service Manual (P-24/27), as well as in Conference Approved Literature as it is reprinted. More information, including the WSC motion, can be found in the 2021 WSC Summary.

The Forum, May 2022

Articles related to matters of Al-Anon Policy will have the comment feature disabled. We encourage members to utilize the links of service to discuss the topics.

Feel free to reprint this article on your service arm website or newsletter, along with this credit line: Reprinted with permission of The Forum, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA.