Pubdate: Sun, 18 Sep 2005
Source: Peoria Journal Star (IL)
Copyright: 2005sPeoria Journal Star
Contact:  http://pjstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/338
Author: Terry Bibo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SAVING ONE CHILD FROM HERSELF

Alexis Baker sleeps with her cell phone by her side.

She's lost 20 pounds, spent thousands of dollars and frantically driven all 
over central Illinois.

"I've put 8,000 miles on my vehicle in the last six months, running to 
Bartonville and Canton and Howett Street," the slender, wispy redhead says.

She's not complaining. If you compare her fate to that of her daughter - 
who has lost more than 50 pounds, been threatened and beaten and jailed - 
Alexis is in fine shape. Whatever it takes to save her daughter from crack 
cocaine, she'll do it. She just wishes the authorities would help instead 
of stand in the way.

"I do a lot of praying," she says.

In some ways, this started nine years ago. That's when the car Alexis' 
then-18-year-old daughter was driving was hit head-on by a farm truck as 
the family was en route to breakfast for Alexis' birthday. Both her 
daughter and one of her three sons were badly injured.

So in an eerie way, Alexis is all too familiar with fearing for her 
daughter's life. Her daughter had been pretty stable for a long time. The 
girl even had a 4-year-old daughter of her own and spent the bulk of her 
time as a stay-at-home mom. But Alexis' daughter also had a part-time job 
cutting hair. That's where a co-worker introduced her to crack and 
reintroduced Alexis to fear.

This time, instead of a desperate call from a hospital, Alexis dreads one 
from a police station. Instead of wondering if her child will ever leave 
her hospital bed, she wonders if her child has found a bed to sleep in. 
Instead of working with medical personnel to get her child out on her own, 
she is pleading with law enforcement personnel to make her child stay home 
and get better.

"I even bought handcuffs," Alexis says. "They told me, 'You can't do that.' 
I said, 'I'm trying to save her life.'"

Yet there is also an odd sliver of hope. As a result of brain injuries to 
her daughter from the accident, Alexis ended up being her legal guardian. 
Most parents are helpless when one of their children is ensnared by drugs. 
Even Alexis was unable to keep her daughter from going back to the streets 
on the two different occasions Peoria police brought her in.

But in late August, thanks to her guardianship, Alexis was able to get a 
highly unusual emergency court order from Fulton County Circuit Judge Gene 
Taylor with the daughter not even present. The order requires Peoria police 
or any other law enforcement officers in Illinois to help take Alexis' 
daughter to White Oaks Treatment Center.

"As far as I'm concerned, that's a totally enforceable order," says Peoria 
Police Capt. Michael Scally, who ran it past the city's legal department 
because he'd never seen such an order before. "That's a new one on me."

Scally had agreed to meet Alexis at the Peoria County Courthouse Tuesday 
morning. Her daughter had been picked up on a charge of forging checks - on 
Alexis' account - and they had planned to use the order to persuade her to 
choose treatment rather than jail. But Scally had a meeting that morning. 
Before Scally could get there, maybe 20 minutes late, the Peoria County 
State's Attorney's Office had dismissed the charges, and Alexis' daughter 
had taken off again.

"I kind of failed her a little bit yesterday, to tell you the truth," 
Scally said earlier this week.

At least he tried. Alexis appreciates that. But she doesn't understand why 
Peoria prosecutors let her daughter go, saying there wasn't enough evidence 
to prosecute.

"I've got the papers at home," she says, crushed again.

A source at the state's attorney's office confirmed that there was not 
enough admissible evidence to take Alexis' daughter to trial and said they 
had not known about the court order.

Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons said the office rarely 
prosecutes such cases, even though they are felonies, because it is almost 
impossible to prove there was no consent. "The saddest cases I have are 
when a parent comes down and wants to save a child from themselves," he says.

He adds that Alexis is "really lucky" to have gotten such a court order. He 
knows his office didn't see it until after Alexis' daughter had left 
because it would have raised questions about whether or not it was 
constitutional.

"The American system permits you to live the way you want, even if that's 
with your nose barely above the water line," he says.

In any event, Alexis has heard that before. She has been told repeatedly 
that there is little she can do if her daughter chooses drugs. Scally 
confirms that normally, "we've got nothing." But even with this slight edge 
of a court order, she feels like she's losing the race against time and crack.

"I've spent thousands of dollars. I've got a court order. And no one will 
help me," she says. "Give her the chance to get clean and see what's going 
on. Then if that's the life she chooses, I'll have to let her go."

But first, she says, "At least give her this chance."
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