Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jul 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
7210405/1025
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Only publishes local LTEs
Author: Lesley Stedman Weidenbener

STATES ADOPT RULES TO GET CHILDREN OUT OF METH LABS

Caseworkers also to be protected

Homes, apartments and garages where methamphetamine is cooked are so
dangerous for children that officials in Indiana and Kentucky are imposing
strict rules meant to get the kids out of harm's way.

The procedures include efforts to make sure child protection caseworkers
also are safe, because even trace amounts of the chemicals used to make meth
can cause health problems for adults and children, said Jim Payne, director
of the Indiana Department of Child Services.

"A coordinated response is imperative," Payne said. "We need to make sure
everyone is prepared for what we're walking into."

In both states:

Only specially trained law-enforcement officials -- not child protection
caseworkers -- are to enter the toxic meth labs and remove children.

Children must leave all their belongings behind, even their clothing and
toys, and will be cleaned with wipes and sometimes wrapped in special
blankets before riding in emergency vehicles.

Children are taken immediately for medical reviews, including tests to
measure their exposure to solvents and other chemicals.

The new procedures were formally launched yesterday in Indiana at a training
session for police, emergency workers and child protection caseworkers,
although some of the policies had already been in place informally.

In Kentucky, similar rules were established late last year, although Marian
Call, the state's child safety branch manager, said they are under review
and being amended.

"We didn't know until a year ago how bad the meth problem was," Call said.
"Now we're struggling with making sure that what we put out there is
palatable to workers and they're struggling with this as well, as people are
across the country."

In the past, neither state has tracked the number of children removed from
meth labs, although officials in both say they will do so in the future.

But U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks, of Indiana's Southern District, said that
more than 15,000 children are affected nationally each year. She said local
authorities raid 45 labs every day across the country.

A few Hoosier counties have been keeping track of the children they find.
Payne said in Vigo County, where the meth epidemic first took hold in
Indiana, about 70 percent of children in the state system were rescued from
meth labs or have been removed from parents who are meth abusers.

For children, meth labs are disasters.

The solvents used to create the highly addictive drug and its byproducts are
toxic. They also are highly explosive. Officials said yesterday that slight
changes in temperature or friction can cause the ingredients to blow up.

Children can easily overdose on meth if it is left where they can find it.
Also, homes where meth is being cooked often are those where other serious
problems exist, said Judith Monroe, commissioner of the Indiana Department
of Health.

"This is truly a public health crisis," she said. "And it threatens
children's lives."

In a recent case in Harrison County, Ind., a woman was arrested for cooking
meth at her Lanesville home, where police say she lived with her two
children. Police found the home full of trash and dog feces.

According to a Harrison County Sheriff's report, there was no furnace, no
running water, and in the bathroom and the hall there were plastic buckets
full of urine. Also, suspected drug residue was found on a couch "along with
dolls and coloring books that the children had played with."

Hoosier officials said yesterday that such a scene is not uncommon.

And child-protection workers often are the first to discover meth labs when
they investigate child abuse or neglect, or when they follow up on previous
cases, said Melissa Norman, who supervises caseworkers in Shelby County.

The new state rules call for caseworkers to leave a home immediately if they
suspect it is being used to cook meth and to call for specialists to
investigate and remove the children.

"This is a growing problem," Norman said. The new regulations "are
definitely going to be an advantage for us. It's going to help increase the
safety of our workers."

In Kentucky, some state child-protection workers and other emergency
officials attended training by the National Alliance for Drug Endangered
Children in March. About 20 states -- including Kentucky and Indiana -- are
part of the national effort.

Susan Pollack, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of
Kentucky and a member of the Kentucky Alliance for Drug Endangered Children,
said the national group helps states establish a more coordinated response
to the problem of children in meth labs.

"We're working on team efforts," Pollack said. "People across different
disciplines are really beginning to understand the problem. We're trying to
take a global, overarching approach to this."
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MAP posted-by: Josh