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."