Part of an $82,000 grant awarded to the Salisbury Police Department will be used in decontaminating children exposed to toxic fumes and other hazardous byproducts of methamphetamine labs.

Police Lt. David Belk told members of the Community Child Protection Team at their quarterly meeting Tuesday that decontamination equipment and new clothing for children found in raid situations will be purchased with the grant from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of North Carolina. Participants in a June 20 workshop will fine-tune a Drug-Endangered Children's Response Plan drafted by the Rowan County Department of Social Services in October. Director Sandra Wilkes said the draft was based on a response plan adopted by Watauga County, one of the first counties in the state to address drug-endangered children in a formal plan. Social Services asked the Salisbury Police Department to further refine the draft, she said.

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