Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2005
Source: Columbia Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2005 Columbia Missourian
Contact:  http://www.columbiamissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2282
Author: Alisa Hofsess and Sara Broderick

GROUP WANTS TO ASSIST YOUTH EXPOSED TO METH

In the past, when the Boone County Sheriff's Department would seize a meth
lab where children were present, they would first try to place the children
with family members, Sgt. Mike Stubbs said.

When children are taken from meth-producing environments and do not receive
a medical exam, signs of abuse and other problems are missed, he said.

"We need to reevaluate what we do with them and make sure that we are not
missing a service to them," Stubbs said Thursday. "Maybe we are placing them
too soon, before we have offered them every resource that we can."

Stubbs and representatives from the juvenile office, Boone County Fire
Protection District, children's division and University Health Care met
Thursday at Rainbow House to discuss a program in Southwest Missouri that
assists children found during meth lab incidents.

Southwest Missouri's protocol requires law enforcement officials seizing a
meth lab to immediately call the county children's division each time a
child is found. The child is taken to the Children's Center of Southwest
Missouri in Joplin, where the child is bathed three times and given a
medical exam.

The Boone County group's goal is to use the program as a model to establish
a similar program. Locally, 10 to 15 children have been found at meth lab
sites this year.

The Southwest Missouri program, which began in 2004, cost more than $51,000
to implement. Maintenance costs are expected to be about $40,000.

The Boone County Sheriff's Department plans to prohibit children from
leaving the scene with other family members, Stubbs said. Instead, it will
immediately contact the juvenile office.

"This is what we are going to strive for," he said. "All of it is part of an
educational process. The only way the problem with meth and other drugs will
be effectively reversed is to change the trend or the outlook."

Children who are exposed to the chemicals used to produce meth often test
positive for the drug, as if they have taken it themselves, said Greg
Dagnan, director of the Children's Center. In 2003, the child advocacy
center in Tulsa County, Okla., reported that 89 percent of children brought
in from meth labs tested positive for the drug.

Consequently, they exhibit the same behavioral symptoms a meth user would
have, such as hyperactivity, agitation and moodiness, Stubbs said.

In addition to these problems, meth users have an increased sex drive. As a
result, children in these situations are repeatedly exposed to sexual
activity and are at an increased risk for sexual abuse, Dagnan said.

"If all you have is a contaminated kid, count yourself lucky," he said.
"These kids are in danger."

Children who are exposed to a meth-producing environment their entire lives
have a difficult time understanding their life is dangerous , said Linda
Allen, executive director of Rainbow House.

"We have to explain to them that this is not a business," said Allen, who
has a private counseling practice. "It's not a way of supporting a family."

After the initial anger and grief of losing their home, possessions and
parents, most children feel betrayed because their parents chose meth
instead of them, Allen said.

"I've never counseled harder clients than meth users," she said. "Parents
say `it's not affecting my kids.' The level of denial is higher because they
are so distracted by the physical withdrawal. It's hard to set up treatment
goals when they can't think past the next five minutes."
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MAP posted-by: Josh