Pubdate: Tue, 05 Aug 2008
Source: Wausau Daily Herald (WI)
Copyright: 2008 Wausau Daily Herald
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/zFWcSrzy
Website: http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1321

PROGRAM GETS KIDS OUT OF DRUG HOMES

Kids from drug-infested homes often start their lives  in the bottom
of the ninth, down by five runs and with  two strikes against them.

Their odds aren't good.

We've gotten a glimpse into that world in recent days,  most
graphically in the story of Jessica Kasten -- the  Wausau woman
convicted of letting one of her children  die of suffocation as she
slept.

Her family, who spoke at length with a Daily Herald  reporter, said
Kasten's own upbringing in a home rife  with drugs and alcohol didn't
give her a good start in  life.

Kasten's story has been revealing to many of us. But it  comes as no
surprise to police and social workers, who  see such tragedies
unfolding all the time.

They've had enough, and they're trying to do something  about
it.

Until recently, authorities had no standard procedure  for dealing
with kids from drug homes. The dwellings  they would encounter were
squalid or worse, toxic with  residue of chemicals used to make drugs.

Police would show up and take parents to jail for  dealing or using
drugs. Children would be sent off to a  relative's house, and everyone
would get back to work  -- until the next bust, when the same cycle
would begin  all over again.

Now, an encounter with a drug home kicks a special  procedure into
gear.

The Drug Endangered Children Program, developed by the  Marathon
County Sheriff's Department, ties together 15  area police agencies,
social workers and two hospitals,  all dedicated with giving kids from
drug homes a  chance.

As soon as police know children are involved in a drug  home, they
begin building two cases -- one to prosecute  the parents and another
to help the children.

"Officers are trained to look for how close chemicals  are to where
kids eat and sleep, to test clothing for  chemicals for child neglect
and abuse charges,"  Marathon County Sheriff's Department Capt. Tom
Kujawa  said. "When the kids get to the hospital, doctors are  trained
to look for chemicals on their skin and in  their systems. A lot of
times, you would put kids with  a brother or grandparent or whatever,
and it would turn  out they were cooking drugs, too. So now, we have a
 whole checklist we go through to make sure we get them  to a safe
environment."

Often, Kujawa said, children must leave behind  everything they own
because it's all contaminated with  drugs. So police give them
backpacks of clothing,  toiletries and blankets that are knitted by
church  groups and -- of all people -- male prison inmates.

The Sheriff's Department started the Drug Endangered  Children program
about three years ago, when  methamphetamine first started appearing.

Now, it's being adopted around the state -- and being  put to more use
than ever.

In May, authorities used the system when they raided a  Wausau-area
meth house and removed three children, ages  5, 7 and 14.

"Without intervention, they have zero chance," said  Kujawa, who was
leader of the county's drug enforcement  unit when the program began.

"Kids need an opportunity to be kids, and we cheat them  out of life,"
Kujawa said. "Some of these kids, 5, 6, 7  years old, the kids are
raising the parents because of  the addiction. It's just sad."

It is sad. But thanks to this program -- the first of  its kind in
Wisconsin -- some of these children are  getting a new chance at life.
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