Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 Source: Wichita Eagle (KS) Copyright: 2005 The Wichita Eagle Contact: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/editorial/4664538.htm Website: http://www.wichitaeagle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/680 Author: Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) PROTOCOL TO DEAL WITH KIDS FOUND IN HOMES WITH METH LABS NEWTON, Kan. - When police found a methamphetamine lab in a home two years ago, they arrested two adults living there but didn't know what to do with the two children. They called Harvey County Attorney David Yoder, but he didn't have the answer. "The police officer asked what they should do with the children," Yoder said. "I asked what the protocol for that was. He said, 'We don't have one.'" That's when Yoder realized something needed to be done. "We needed procedures in place so we would know what to do if we busted a methamphetamine lab where children had been exposed to all types of harmful chemicals," he said Tuesday. Representatives of law enforcement, emergency services, hospitals and drug treatment and prevention programs formed a 16-member task force that wrote a 14-page document - the drug endangered children protocols - outlining what various agencies need to do when children are found in meth-making homes. "The whole thing is geared to protecting the youngest victims of these labs, and that's the children who may be exposed to the harmful effects of the chemicals," Yoder said. On Friday, the protocols were signed by Yoder, Harvey County Sheriff Byron Motter, Newton police Chief Jim Daily and Newton fire/EMS Chief Gary Denny. Other county organizations also will sign off in the coming days, along with the attorney general's office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Yoder said he believes his county is the third in Kansas to have such procedures in place and that a half dozen others are considering the idea. "With this in place, there will be no questions of what agencies can do and who will do it," said Abby McQueen Tyner, children and families supervisor for Newton Social and Rehabilitation Services. "Methamphetamine use is increasing, and the effects are far reaching." Yoder said that under the protocols the first thing police officers would do after taking parents in custody would be to call an ambulance and have the children taken to a hospital for examination. "It's going to be presumed they have been exposed to harmful chemicals," Yoder said. Those who need treatment would remain at the hospital; otherwise they would be turned over to police, who would try to find an adult for them to stay with. If no one can be found, then the children would be turned over to the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to be placed in foster care. The protocols, which haven't been used, would apply to anyone under age 18. Yoder said he doubts children would face charges, even if they were assisting in making meth. "They could be charged as juvenile offenders, but more likely I would be looking at charging the parents," Yoder said. "I would be more apt to look at the kids as victims." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth