Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Contact:  (414) 224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 1998
Author: Lisa Sink of the Journal Sentinel staff

'COCAINE MOM' GIVES BIRTH TO 4TH SON; OFFICIALS CONSIDER CUSTODY ISSUES

Baby is healthy and with Angela at drug treatment center, her mother says

The woman known as Waukesha County's "cocaine mom" has given birth to
another baby, and authorities Tuesday launched an immediate effort to
supervise the custody of the child.

A court hearing, attended by lawyers for the county and social workers, was
held Tuesday afternoon in Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis' courtroom.

None of those present would comment, but it was believed the hearing was
one that is required before a petition can be filed to declare a child in
need of court protection or services.

County officials were expected to file such a petition in court today.

The 26-year-old woman, who the Journal Sentinel is referring to only as
Angela to protect her children's identity, was due to deliver her  fourth
son May 4.

For the time being, the newborn is with Angela in a drug treatment
facility, Angela's mother told a reporter Tuesday.

Angela is going through withdrawal for her cocaine addiction, her mother
said. And, she added, she and Angela are concerned that the county will try
to take the child away from her. "They're still out to demolish her," the
mother said.

"They ain't going to take this baby," she vowed.

County officials wouldn't talk about what action they expected to take
regarding the newborn. Angela's mother said officials agreed that the boy
should remain at least temporarily with his mother at the treatment
facility.

The birth came Saturday, less than a week after a judge ordered Angela to
spend the rest of her pregnancy in the inpatient drug abuse facility that
cares for addicted mothers and their children under 24-hour supervision.

Angela's mother said Tuesday that her daughter delivered a healthy 6-pound,
6-ounce boy and neither Angela nor the baby tested positive for drugs.

"They both came out clean," she added. "They're both doing fine. She's just
trying to be a good mother and do her treatment."

The ruling last week by Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. was the second
time Angela had been ordered detained in her final weeks of a pregnancy
because of cocaine abuse.

She made national headlines in 1995 when Waukesha County officials used
child protection laws to detain her at a drug abuse center to protect her
fetus. The detention was called illegal last year by the state Supreme
Court, which said that a fetus was not a child entitled to protection under
the non-criminal child protection laws.

When Angela delivered her son in September 1995, that boy was immediately
removed from her custody and placed in a foster home.After failing to meet
the conditions for return of her son, Angela  lost her parental rights to
him last year.

Angela became pregnant again shortly after her 1995 Supreme Court victory
while still using drugs by her own admission. Months later, she was
arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine pipes.

She was released on a $250 signature bond with conditions that she remain
drug-free. However, in March she allegedly tested positive for cocaine
twice. The tests were ordered as part of an unrelated Juvenile Court case
involving one of her two older sons.

District Attorney Paul Bucher won the ruling by Dreyfus that ordered Angela
held at the inpatient facility she voluntarily entered on April 8.

Officials were careful to stress that the ruling came in Angela's criminal
case, and was not a child protection matter.

The name and location of the treatment center was sealed by Dreyfus at the
request of Angela's lawyer.

It is believed that Angela must still remain at the facility around the
clock until her trial, which is scheduled for June 3.

Angela's mother, who cares for Angela's two older sons, ages 8 and 10, said
that the boys went to visit their new brother at the hospital Sunday.

"He's adorable," she said. "He eats real good, has no health problems."

Angela "may stay there until July or she might stay for the whole six
months," she said. "The people there are great. They're really helping her.
They got her a crib and baby clothes. She said she really likes it there."