Pubdate: Tue, 13 Sep 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Doug Ward
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

KIDS FROM POT HOUSES NEED HELP: SOCIAL WORKERS

Ministry Urged To Be Cautious In Placing Children With Relatives

The Ministry of Children and Family Development should ensure that children 
apprehended from homes with marijuana-growing operations are not placed 
with relatives who are also growing pot, the B.C. Association of Social 
Workers said Monday.

The BCASW said the common policy of removing children from unsafe homes and 
placing them with relatives may not be advisable in many pot house cases.

"It is not a responsible practice in marijuana grow-op situations as many 
of the relatives are part of a network of grow-op homes," the BCASW said in 
a news release.

A new protocol needs to be developed, said the BCASW, to deal with this 
"emerging child protection crisis." The group cited police statistics 
indicating that one in five of marijuana houses have children.

In the past, the houses were often run by absentee growers who would show 
up at a property only once or twice a week to check on their plants. But 
organized crime groups have in recent years recruited families to live in 
the houses.

To deal with this trend, the ministry should direct social workers to 
inspect any designated alternative home and the criminal records of any 
people who are in them, the BCASW said.

It said people who raise children in marijuana-growing should also be 
classified as "high-risk parents."

"These children are in danger of poisoning because of the large amounts of 
fertilizers in close proximity," said Paul Jenkinson, chairman of the BCASW 
child welfare and family committee.

"The grow-op is a humid environment where moulds grow and affect their 
respiratory health.

"The electrical bypass that steals electricity from hydro companies puts 
children at risk of electrocution and house fires.

"Barred windows and multiple locks on doors mean the children have no way 
to escape if a fire breaks out.

"The very real threat of grow ripoffs by rival gangs or growers puts the 
children at risk of violence, guns and beatings occurring around or to them."

If the children are returned to the parents, ministry social workers should 
maintain contact with these families for at least three months, the BCASW 
added.

In response, a top official in the Ministry of Children and Family 
Development said that existing practices are adequate and that the 
ministry's front-line social workers have not complained about current policy.

"We don't see it as a crisis," said Mark Sieben, acting assistant deputy 
minister. Sieben acknowledged that police are increasingly finding children 
in homes with grow-ops in the Lower Mainland.

But Sieben said that existing policy calls for scrutiny of any alternative 
care for children taken from pot-growing homes. "There necessarily has to 
be an assessment."

Sieben said most children found in pot houses are eventually returned to 
their parents -- but only after the parents prove that their homes are safe 
environments.

Insp. Paul Nadeau, who heads the RCMP Coordinated Marijuana Enforcement 
Team, said adults operating a growing operation should face stiffer 
penalties if their children also reside in the house where the pot is grown.

"It should be an aggravating factor when sentencing is being looked at by a 
judge," Nadeau said. "It's one thing for adults to get involved in a 
criminal activity -- it's another to drag their kids into it."

Nadeau said raising kids in a pot home amounts to child abuse because the 
kids are exposed to a number of risks, including pesticides and home 
invasions by rival gangs. He said it would be a "sweeping statement" to say 
that most relatives of marijuana-growing operators also cultivate pot, but 
it does happen and social workers should exercise "due diligence" in 
placing the children.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman