Pubdate: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Scottsboro, AL) Copyright: 2003 The Daily Sentinel Contact: http://www.thedailysentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1681 Author: Mazie Aldrich MEASURING THE FALLOUT Who Is Taking Care Of The Children? In a society with the ever-increasing epidemic of methamphetamine manufacturing and use, a seldom mentioned factor in drug busts are the children. What effect does the lab have on the children? What effect does the child's removal from the home cause? It is a well-known fact that children, no matter how badly neglected they are, love their parents and naturally do not want to leave them, which is exactly what happens when a child is found in a home where methamphetamine is manufactured. According to Melba Crawford, DHR Resource Development supervisor, children are always removed from the home where methamphetamine is being manufactured. To this date, none of the children have been returned to those parents in Jackson County. While there have been no long-term studies done on the effects of a child raised in a home where meth is produced, the Department of Human Resources claims that the children are always neglected - physically, emotionally and even educationally. Since the beginning of the year, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department has made 55 methamphetamine busts. Fourteen busts have been made within the Scottsboro city limits by the Scottsboro Police Department. A total of 13 children were taken from the homes during those busts. That is only 18 percent, a relatively low number but that total does not reflect the children of those participating in the labs who were away at school or staying with someone else at the time of the busts. They are also removed from the home. The Department of Human Resources has seen a dramatic rise in the number of children taken from homes where meth labs are found. "We have gone in during busts where the room was filled with gasses from cooking and found young children there," said Jackson County Chief Investigator Chuck Phillips. "We have masks and air filters that we wear, but those children, like the parents that cook, inhale the fumes from the chemicals mixed and cooked to make the meth." Chemicals used during the cooking of meth are toxic and highly flammable. Users are not the only people poisoned by the drug. Manufacturing is extremely dangerous and involves many common household chemical products. These chemicals and the various combinations used are potentially lethal and toxic. When mixed, the household chemicals can damage the central nervous system, liver and kidneys and burn or irritate the skin, eyes, nose and throat. "It is heartbreaking," Phillips said. "The kids are usually very upset when we take them out of the home. Meth users don't see what they are doing to their kids. They blame us for taking their children away from them. They think they have done nothing wrong. The risk they put the children in doesn't seem to concern them." "Children who are taken from the homes are forced to leave everything behind because of the contamination," Crawford said. "Not only do they lose their family and their home, they lose everything they are accustomed to. It is usually very traumatic for them." Conditions sometimes found at the labs are at the least unsanitary. Often acid spills have eaten holes in the carpet or flooring. The chemicals and fumes permeate the walls, carpets, plaster and wood as well as the surrounding soil. White walls appear to have a purple haze. The chemicals are known to cause cancer, permanent brain damage, immune and respiratory system problems. Reckless practices by the "cooks" can result in explosions and fires that could also harm the innocent bystanders, the children. A young teenager voluntarily talked with investigator Hal Nash after a drug bust. "She had the iodine stains on her hands from helping her dad cook meth. She didn't like it but she was forced to help. She was glad to leave the home because she feared her dad would kill her," Nash said. "She knew all there was to know about cooking meth; she had seen it often. She also knew the chemicals were toxic because of the skull and crossbones on them." Fortunately, the child is no longer with the family. She, like others caught in homes where meth was being produced, was placed with another family. Those risks are only part of the problems children face who are raised around methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is an easy-to-produce, highly profitable nervous system stimulant. A home where meth is produced is frequently visited at all times of the day or night by those who buy and or use the drug. The users often exhibit aggressive or psychotic behavior, irritability, anxiety, paranoia and auditory hallucinations. Not only will children endure the odd behavior of parents taking the drug, but also of those who visit the lab. According to Crawford, a total of 78 children are now in foster care in Jackson County. Approximately 40 of those have come from homes where meth was being produced. Not included in that total are the endless numbers of children who are taken from homes where meth is being produced and placed with other relatives. Those children fall under the care of DHR Protective Services where the children and their new households are monitored anywhere from six months to two years. The total number of children in foster care has doubled due to the meth problem. The epidemic has become such a problem for the entire state that a class was recently taught by the Drug Enforcement Agency to train DHR workers how to recognize the presence of the drug and how to respond when encountering the drug. Normally the department would be looking at half the number of children in foster care. Case loads have doubled for the department while they could be looking at budget cuts. "We need more foster parents," Crawford said. That statement was reiterated by Drenda King, Jackson County director of DHR and Mary Nixon, a child welfare supervisor. Someone has to care for the children. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman