Pubdate: Sat, 24 Jun 2006
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2006 Reno Gazette-Journal
Contact: http://www.rgj.com/helpdesk/news/letter-to-editor.php
Website: http://www.rgj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/363
Author: Jaclyn O'Mmalley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that 
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

LOVE FOR METH COSTS MOMS THEIR CHILDREN

One Reno mother last year bathed her 3-year-old son in hydrogen 
peroxide to eat the microscopic cameras she believed her neighbors 
inserted under his skin during the night.

A Sparks mother of four waited more than 24 hours to hospitalize her 
10-month-old after he ate some of her meth stash kept on her 
knee-high night stand.

Another Reno mother in 2005 allowed a convicted felon to baby-sit her 
6-year-old daughter in a downtown motel room where meth was 
accessible and where conditions were so rank that the building was 
condemned for health hazards after her arrest.

What these women share besides a love for meth is that their children 
were removed from their custody and placed into foster care because 
of their addiction.

Of the thousands of child abuse and neglect investigations done 
through the Washoe County's child protective services in 2005, about 
85 percent are related to methamphetamine, said Jeanne Marsh, 
children's services division director. The majority of the children 
removed from their families are infants to 10-year-olds.

And an increasing number of parents are losing their parental rights 
"""" considered in family court as "the death penalty," Marsh said. 
Meth is also contributing to fewer families being reunited. In 2004 
and 2005, there were 389 cases in which children were removed from 
their families, and in most of those cases, drug abuse was involved.

'I can't believe you'

Michelle Smith is 37, divorced and has a 16-year-old daughter. A 
Carson City court ordered the daughter into the custody of Smith's 
mother after Smith's third meth arrest and probation violation. 
Smith, who lives in a transitional home in Sparks for recovering drug 
addicts, said she also manufactured meth but was never arrested for that.

Smith said the last time she was arrested, her daughter watched as 
she was handcuffed, drug pipes and a bag of freshly made meth sitting 
next to her on the bed.

"I told her I got caught with drugs. She looked at me and shook her 
head. She said 'I can't believe you.'

"I put drugs before my child, something I told her I would never do 
again," she said. "Twice I had quit and started using again. But I 
tried to stay clean the first time for her, not me. Obviously I 
wasn't ready to stop using again."

Smith said she used to spoil her daughter with love and affection, 
but meth changed all of that.

"She would come home from school and I'd tell her to get lost and go 
outside and play," she said. "I'd lock myself in my room with my 
friends and she'd be sitting there wondering why I wouldn't come out. 
She'd be crying and I'd end up getting mad that she was in the way of 
my drug use."

Families not reuniting

The Washoe County's Family Drug Court, which supervises drug-addicted 
parents arrested for child neglect and abuse, reported that 59 
percent of the families were reunited after parents successfully 
completed the one-year program. The goal is to reunite children with 
parents after they prove they can remain sober.

Last year, there were 26 new families in the court program, for a 
total of 58 clients.

"With meth, the neglect and addiction is so severe that we are not 
reunifying the families," Marsh said. The 40 percent of families that 
aren't reunited contribute to the high need for foster families in the county.

"These parents go on meth runs, forget about the kids and leave them 
in the house with no food," she said. "There is no medical or dental 
care for these children. They're left in a big unsanitary mess. It's 
a miracle children survive."

Johnie Pereira, 38, is now faced with raising his 3-year-old son 
after the boy's mother, a meth addict and dealer, left them a few months ago.

"She picked meth over our son," he said. "She didn't pay attention to 
him, and one day, he drank the water from her crank bong. He got sick 
and she laughed."

Instead of caring for the boy, Pereira said, she was always in her 
bedroom with her friends, closing the door and using meth.

"He would be beating on her door and she would yell 'Go away' because 
he was interfering with her socializing and meth," he said. "She put 
him in front of a TV and had (his older brothers) watch him. One of 
the brothers is in prison for molesting my son."

Emotional problems

Many of these removed children have anger and emotional problems, are 
behind in school and lack social skills, experts say. Older siblings 
also take on a parental role when their parents neglect them. These 
children, if they are not physically abused themselves, watch their 
parents batter each other, a common side effect of meth. Children 
also have medical issues due to parental neglect.

Marsh said children also learn that drugs are used as a coping method.

"For some, foster care is the most stable environment they've had," 
Marsh said. "Parents visit their children in the visiting rooms and 
they say 'I was a good parent.' But on meth, they're not."

Valerie Santos, child services supervisor for family drug court, said 
that when social workers can intervene at the beginning of meth 
addictions, families have better chances for getting their lives on 
track. Many use family drug court in Washoe County as a means to get 
their lives in order through structured treatment sessions and drug testing.

"The impact of meth is that it is tearing families apart," Santos 
said. "It's tough to integrate kids back with their parents because 
they are used to them being drug addicts. Parents now need to learn 
how to be parents."

Santos added that agitated, sleep-deprived and paranoid parents under 
the influence of meth are more likely to physically abuse their 
children or leave them with strangers who could sexually assault them.

Marsh said that under the Adoption and Safe Families Act, social 
workers have one year to work with the parents, who need to follow 
strict guidelines to get their children back. If they fail, their 
parental rights could be terminated and the children will be adopted. 
If parents are making progress, though, the 12-month timeline can be 
extended. Because meth is so highly addictive and addicts have more 
relapses, their treatment can be lengthy.

"The consequences to children are horrific with difficult outcomes," 
Marsh said. "We realize the seriousness and the need for longterm 
(meth) treatment, but that butts up with laws that say we have a year 
to reunite families."

Marsh said that some parents are functional meth users, and can hide 
their addictions.

"We often see deplorable addicts, but there are also those who work 
and are functional," she said. "But that only lasts so long. Some are 
able to get clean but that depends on how quickly we intervene, how 
long they've been using and if they have hit rock bottom yet."

Marsh said for many, hitting rock bottom is losing their children. 
But for others, "they don't care and are not prepared to give up the drug."

Parents have to be clean for an additional six months before social 
workers will close their cases.

"The underlying value is that people can change," Marsh said. "If I 
didn't believe that, I couldn't do this job. So many families come in 
and make poor choices, but they have the ability and desire to change."

"When parents use it when they are young, because meth is brain 
altering, they are stuck in that age," Marsh said. "Now they need to 
stay clean, keep a job and a home. If they don't recover, we have to 
find a home for these children."

What stymies these parents is that many are convicted of drug or 
child-abuse felonies, which causes problems in finding employment 
above minimum wage and finding affordable housing. Felons also have a 
hard time qualifying for low-income housing, Marsh said.

But children are not removed from homes on every occasion. For 
example, on March 27 a 31-year-old unemployed man was arrested for 
leaving his 10-month-old son crying in his crib while methamphetamine 
and drug pipes sat on a kitchen table. The boy's mother told police 
that her boyfriend had battered her about the head with a closed 
pocket knife the day before because she was "hogging blankets." The 
man was arrested while the child remained with its mother, who was 
given a "safety plan" by investigating social workers who will 
monitor the child's welfare.

"The underlying value is that people can change," Marsh said. "If I 
didn't believe that, I couldn't do this job. So many families come in 
and make poor choices, but they have the ability and desire to change."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman