Pubdate: Wed, 26 Apr 2006
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2006 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Jane Norman, Register Washington Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

RECOVERY TIED TO FAMILY

Unity With Child Was Key, Ex-Addict Tells Senators

Washington, D.C. -- At 11, Allison Bruno of Cedar Rapids began 
smoking pot and drinking alcohol.

At 13, she was introduced to methamphetamine by her mom, who was 
partying with friends.

"I walked in on them one day, and my mom offered me some," Bruno 
recalled Tuesday before a U.S. Senate committee. "I truly believe I 
was addicted from that day on."

For years to come, Bruno walked through a nightmare of addiction and 
homelessness, taking a brief break from meth only when she became 
pregnant at 15. "I picked up where I left off after I had my 
daughter," she said.

Now 22 and clean for three years, Bruno told senators that she never 
would have broken out of addiction if it wasn't for "family 
treatment," in which women can keep their children with them while in recovery.

The Senate Finance Committee is examining which programs work best 
when it comes to treatment for parents addicted to meth, one of the 
fastest-growing drug threats in America and a scourge in Iowa.

There were 760 clandestine labs discovered in Iowa in 2005 and more 
than 1,350 abuse cases involving children with illegal drugs in their 
system because of the actions of a parent or caregiver, according to 
the Iowa Department of Human Services.

The number of meth labs found in Iowa has dropped off significantly 
in the past year since Iowa restricted sales of cold medicines 
containing pseudoephedrine, a key meth ingredient. But use of 
imported meth remains a concern, state officials say.

Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said 
numerous reports indicate that meth abuse is on the increase 
nationally, especially among women of childbearing age. This has an 
impact on child welfare systems in states, and meth is a major cause 
of child abuse and neglect, Grassley said.

"Additionally, one of the effects of meth is a dramatic increase in a 
user's sex drive," he said. "As a result, children are often exposed 
to pornography and sexual abuse."

Grassley's committee this year will reauthorize for the next five 
years the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Act, which deals with 
federally financed services for foster children and troubled families.

As part of scrutiny of what works and what doesn't in the federal 
act, aides said Grassley wants to look into targeting some new 
federal money into dealing with meth-related problems. That includes 
family treatment for addicts, family reunification and adoption. 
Currently there are three facilities in Iowa that allow parents and 
children to receive services together while parents are in treatment.

Bruno said that after she had her daughter, Alexis, "it never crossed 
my mind that I was not being a good mother, because I had only known 
mothers who were addicts."

When her baby was 8 months old, Bruno began shooting up meth with a 
man she met. She would leave her baby with the baby's father, who was 
not an addict, for weeks on end.

Bruno said that she stopped using meth only when she checked into the 
Heart of Iowa women and children's treatment facility in Cedar 
Rapids. There she could have her daughter with her, unlike at 
facilities for single adults. "Together we were in treatment," she 
said. She had group therapy for 12 hours a day, while Alexis was in 
day care or counseling.

Today, Bruno is a student at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar 
Rapids, majoring in human services with the intent of becoming a 
social worker. She has a second child and is engaged to be married.

Happily, Bruno's mother has kicked her addiction as well, and Bruno 
has worked through the pain of her neglected childhood. She has goals 
and plans for her own children. "Because of family treatment, I broke 
the cycle of addiction in my family," Bruno said. "My children will 
have a different childhood than mine."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman