Pubdate: Tue, 24 Feb 2004
Source: Herald-Citizen (TN)
Copyright: 2004 Herald-Citizen, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc
Contact:  http://www.herald-citizen.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1501
Author: Jill Thomas

'CARE BAGS' ASSEMBLED FOR CHILDREN EXPOSED TO METH

Children who are removed from the presence of so-called "meth labs" by the 
State Dept. of Children's Services can't take any of their possessions with 
them. Toys, blankies, clothes, even pacifiers and sippy cups have been 
poisoned by the toxic chemicals that permeate everything, including human 
bodies, and are used to make the illegal stimulant methamphetamine.

But now a group of volunteers has put together recovery kits to help kids 
make it through that first night away from home. The kits contain bottled 
water, juice boxes, fruit strips and peanut butter crackers as well as 
blankets and hygienic items such as travel-sized toothpaste and tooth 
brushes and, perhaps best of all, a little stuffed toy to hug.

The Putnam County Anti-drug and Violence Coalition has spent weeks 
gathering the items, and when Cookeville businessman Garry McNabb donated 
the mesh bags that could hold all the items for each child in one 
container, the group spent an afternoon assemblying 150 kits.

"Everyone has been so generous in helping with this," said John Rust, the 
Coalition's coordinator.

"When Garry (McNabb) gave us the bags, we were able to use some of the 
other donated money to buy clothes for the kids," he said.

According to Betsy Dunn, Children's Protective Services case manager for 
the Dept. of Children's Services, there will come a time when children who 
are being removed from a meth-permeated home or other location will be 
"decontaminated" on the spot. Currently youngsters are immediately taken by 
a caseworker to a hospital emergency room for a physical exam and then 
taken by their DCS caseworker to foster parents for the night.

But DCS workers have learned the hard way that even small contact with the 
youngsters can result in harm to themselves.

It used to be that the case workers would go into the place where meth is 
cooked along with law enforcement officers and while the officers handled 
the parents' participation in drug making, DCS would get the children ready 
to leave the contaminated home.

In 2002 a state law sponsored by State Sen. Charlotte Burks of Monterey 
categorized exposing a child to methamphetamine as child abuse and it 
became a reason for terminating parental rights.

It was only when meth became better known that case workers and law 
enforcement officers realized just how dangerous those home labs were.

"It's scary to look back now at the stuff we did when we didn't realize how 
hazardous it was to all of us," Dunn said.

Today case workers are not even permitted to go inside a meth lab or home 
where children have been found. Only specially trained and outfitted law 
enforcement officers can enter the meth labs. And they bring the children 
out to the case workers.

Even then, the case workers are at risk by simply traveling with the 
youngsters to the hospital. In some states portable units are already being 
driven to meth lab sites so children can shower and change clothes at the site.

Clothes have to be removed because clothing that has been exposed to meth 
for periods of time become toxic and can contaminate a car's upholstery to 
a point of possibly harming the next person who rides in the car.

When a Cookeville-area church donated $1,000, the coalition spent most of 
it in one place buying clothes that would fit kids from "preemie" babies to 
larger 17-year-olds.

"I can't begin to thank everybody enough for what they've given," Betsy 
Dunn said. "I'm blown away. Not just me, the whole department is so 
grateful to have these kits.

"It's wonderful to see the community come together to help these children. 
And that's what it's all about. It's so comforting to know we have these 
bags. They provide little necessities that the rest of us take for 
granted," she said.

* For more information about the Putnam Anti-Drug and Violence Coalition, 
call John Rust at (931) 646-4045.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman