Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2005
Source: Spooner Advocate (WI)
Copyright: 2005 Spooner Advocate
Contact:  http://www.spooneronline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3894
Author: Frank Zufall
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

METH EPIDEMIC PUTS COUNTY CHILDREN AT RISK

Maybe one of the most telling facts reflective of what law enforcement and 
social service personnel in Washburn County are calling a methamphetamine 
epidemic is the number 14.

It does not sound like a large number, but it is huge when you understand 
that the 14 are 14 Washburn County children, 14 juveniles who within the 
last year have been removed from a home where a parent or a guardian has 
been using the drug methamphetamine, or "meth."

Those 14 represent half of the 28 children Washburn County Health and Human 
Services Department has placed in out-of-home care, according to Washburn 
County Family Services Supervisor Joan Wilson.

She said there are several reasons why children are especially vulnerable 
where meth is consumed in a home and why they need to be removed.

For one, she said, children are often neglected while a parent or parents 
are under the influence of meth. A parent addicted to meth might be 
consumed with acquiring the drug, and the welfare of a children becomes a 
second priority. And often a user coming off several days of using the drug 
will go through a phase where the user will sleep for a long period, even 
several days in a row, leaving children without adult supervision.

"The fact is when we talk about meth, when the parents decide to use meth, 
they are not thinking about parenting, and they are totally absent when 
they are coming down from meth," said Washburn County Mental Health/Alcohol 
and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) Supervisor Jim LeDuc. "You have opportunity for 
physical and mental abuse through all those stages. Coke [cocaine] users 
aren't very good parents, either. But they are not so preoccupied with 
getting the coke, and the crash is not as bad." County social services 
workers have taken children who are malnourished and unkempt, and they have 
also seen some young people who are trying to hold their families together 
as their parents are falling apart.

"We've seen some children take on adult roles in their homes just because 
the parent is not there to take care of them or other children," said Wilson.

Another issue is children coming in contact with meth itself. Wilson said 
she has seen cases where children could get it on themselves by running 
their hands over a coffee tabletop where a user had spread the drug to cut 
it with a razor blade. Smoking meth is the favored way of taking the drug, 
and it can be absorbed in children's lungs.

If the parents are running a meth lab, the children are possibly exposed to 
a toxic waste dump of chemicals, chemicals so bad that special toxic waste 
removal teams in specialized white suits, costing thousands of dollars, 
have to remove the chemicals when a meth lab is discovered.

Another concern is the exposure to direct physical or sexual abuse. One 
side affect of heavy meth use is increased paranoia often accompanied by 
violent behavior and presence of guns. Another side effect is an increased 
sexual libido of the user. The behavioral changes in a parent or 
user-friends puts children at more risk of experiencing a traumatic event 
early in life. "When you have a 3-year old that is being kicked out of 
early childhood class because the workers can't handle the behavior, that 
was a child, we believe was exposed to methamphetamines in utero and also 
witness domestic violence," said Wilson. However, Wilson adds not all 
children display the same affects, or are effected the same way by meth.

Washburn County law enforcement and social service experts say they project 
the number of kids they will have to remove from a meth environment will 
probably only increase as meth epidemic in the county continues unabated.

An increases in more children in the system takes on some serious financial 
concerns when one considers another number -- 16,000.

To pay for the variety of out-of-home care placements for the 14 children 
the county pays out roughly $16,000 a month, now. Currently, the $16,000 is 
spent for variety of programs, covering foster care with a relative , 
kinship care, (seven kids at $215 a month), county foster care with a 
nonrelative ( four kids in out-of-county homes at $400 - $700 a month based 
on needs of the child), a treatment home requiring more specialty (one 
child at $2,300 - 3,000 a month), a group home setting for an older child 
(one child at $4,000 - $4,500 a month) and the most expensive, a juvenile 
correction facility (one child at over $6,000 a month) If you don't think 
you are paying for the meth epidemic, think again. From January to July 
2005, Washburn County Health and Humane Services spent almost $120,000 to 
take care of kids who were removed from a meth environment, Wilson said.

"We can talk about dollars, but how do you measure the emotional impact on 
children living in a drug environment?" said Wilson. The meth epidemic is 
taking its toll on the lives of children as well as draining local 
financial resources. A nationwide effort has been formed called Drug 
Endangered Children (DEC) to address the problem in a comprehensive manner.

"What we have to focus on is that meth is a different drug," said Wilson. 
"It affects people differently and quickly and when you have meth use going 
on, you have some form of neglect going on."

In Washburn County several agencies have come together to form a DEC 
protocol for responding to a situation where a child may be in a meth home.

Agencies involved include Washburn County Health and Humane Service 
Department, Washburn County Sheriff's Office, Washburn County District 
Attorney's Office, Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Spooner Health 
System, and the police departments of Birchwood, Minong, Shell Lake, and 
Spooner.

The introduction paragraph to the Washburn County DEC protocol explains its 
purpose:

"The latest explosion of methamphetamine abuse has forced us to respond 
more effectively and improve our response in drug abusing environments. We 
have pooled our expertise to become a collaborative effort, have better 
educated ourselves, and are determined to utilize all possible options to 
protect the children from future harm of drug abusing environments."

In essence the protocol, defines all the agencies specific roles in 
addressing situations where meth and children are sharing the same space.

Wilson said the first call of alarm usually comes from law enforcement. All 
the different agencies are then alerted to stand by.

Often a Washburn County Social worker will follow deputies or police into 
home after the home is secured and cleared for toxic chemicals.

The protocol defines several explicit steps for collecting evidence on the 
scene, process a complaint, and caring for the children, including medical 
exams and even a urine sample to see if the drug has entered the child's 
system.

Children are interviewed and their description often the unimaginable.

"When you have small children describing drug related activities ... that a 
child at that age should not have any knowledge of, it is frightening," 
said Wilson

Need For County Foster Homes

Washburn County has a need for in-county foster homes. Wilson said the 
county will provide training and support for families desiring to take on 
the role of foster parents. Those interested in establishing a foster home 
should contact Washburn County Health and Humane Service, Family Services 
Unit, Joan Wilson, 468-4747.
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MAP posted-by: Beth