PROGRAM GETS KIDS OUT OF DRUG HOMES

Kids from drug-infested homes often start their lives in the bottom
of the ninth, down by five runs and with two strikes against them.

Their odds aren't good.

We've gotten a glimpse into that world in recent days, most
graphically in the story of Jessica Kasten -- the Wausau woman
convicted of letting one of her children die of suffocation as she
slept.

Her family, who spoke at length with a Daily Herald reporter, said
Kasten's own upbringing in a home rife with drugs and alcohol didn't
give her a good start in life.

Kasten's story has been revealing to many of us. But it comes as no
surprise to police and social workers, who see such tragedies
unfolding all the time.

They've had enough, and they're trying to do something about
it.

Until recently, authorities had no standard procedure for dealing
with kids from drug homes. The dwellings they would encounter were
squalid or worse, toxic with residue of chemicals used to make drugs.

Police would show up and take parents to jail for dealing or using
drugs. Children would be sent off to a relative's house, and everyone
would get back to work -- until the next bust, when the same cycle
would begin all over again.

Now, an encounter with a drug home kicks a special procedure into
gear.

The Drug Endangered Children Program, developed by the Marathon
County Sheriff's Department, ties together 15 area police agencies,
social workers and two hospitals, all dedicated with giving kids from
drug homes a chance.

As soon as police know children are involved in a drug home, they
begin building two cases -- one to prosecute the parents and another
to help the children.

"Officers are trained to look for how close chemicals are to where
kids eat and sleep, to test clothing for chemicals for child neglect
and abuse charges," Marathon County Sheriff's Department Capt. Tom
Kujawa said. "When the kids get to the hospital, doctors are trained
to look for chemicals on their skin and in their systems. A lot of
times, you would put kids with a brother or grandparent or whatever,
and it would turn out they were cooking drugs, too. So now, we have a
whole checklist we go through to make sure we get them to a safe
environment."

Often, Kujawa said, children must leave behind everything they own
because it's all contaminated with drugs. So police give them
backpacks of clothing, toiletries and blankets that are knitted by
church groups and -- of all people -- male prison inmates.

The Sheriff's Department started the Drug Endangered Children program
about three years ago, when methamphetamine first started appearing.

Now, it's being adopted around the state -- and being put to more use
than ever.

In May, authorities used the system when they raided a Wausau-area
meth house and removed three children, ages 5, 7 and 14.

"Without intervention, they have zero chance," said Kujawa, who was
leader of the county's drug enforcement unit when the program began.

"Kids need an opportunity to be kids, and we cheat them out of life,"
Kujawa said. "Some of these kids, 5, 6, 7 years old, the kids are
raising the parents because of the addiction. It's just sad."

It is sad. But thanks to this program -- the first of its kind in
Wisconsin -- some of these children are getting a new chance at life.