METH-MAKING PARENTS LOSING CUSTODY OF THEIR KIDS

CHATTANOOGA - An increasing number of Tennessee parents caught cooking
poisonous chemicals to make methamphetamine and using the drug to get high
are paying a big price: custody of their children.

The state has taken 488 children from parents caught making or using the
illegal, addictive stimulant since Jan. 1, 2002, according to the Tennessee
Department of Children's Services' first such report.

The children, who can be removed immediately from their parents, are then
placed with foster parents or relatives who can pass state evaluations and
home inspections.

Some meth users lose custody of their children permanently.

Of the meth-related removals of children, 273 were in rural Grundy, Marion,
Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Bradley, Franklin, McMinn, Meigs, Rhea and Polk
counties in Southeast Tennessee.

The mountainous region has seen a rapid rise in meth use and manufacture
during the past few years. Experts say the drug is more prevalent in
sparsely populated communities because it is easier to hide the offensive
odor of the labs.

''I don't think that in reality they really don't love their kids
anymore,'' said Diane Easterly, the department's team coordinator for
Grundy, Franklin and Marion counties. ''It is on a different wavelength.
They just don't think. This poses such a risk to children. You are just
cooking poison.''

Vapors from cooking meth can cause respiratory problems, headaches, nausea,
rashes and sores. Exposure to fumes can cause loss of consciousness and
even death, and the labs sometimes explode and burn. Long-term meth use can
create paranoia and hallucinations.

A year-old state law is making it easier to remove children who are exposed
to meth making by defining such cases as severe child abuse.

Clothing, toys and other belongings are considered contaminated by such
exposure. And when parents are arrested, often at night, children are
forced to leave home with nothing. Contaminated belongings must be removed
by workers wearing gas masks and protective suits.

An Appalachia region High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report shows 388
meth labs were raided in Tennessee last year, up from 353 in 2001 and 168
the previous year. The report showed 300 meth labs were raided in Kentucky
and 41 in West Virginia last year.

About 10,000 children are in the custody of Tennessee's foster-care system.

Children removed because of meth

The state of Tennessee removed 488 children from parents in 2002 because of
methamphetamine use or exposure. Here's where the removals occurred:

Northeast region 1

Davidson County 2

Lewis County 5

Shelby County 10

South Central region 11

Mid-Cumberland region 11

East region 18

Southwest region 34

Upper Cumberland 123

Southeast region 273

- - Associated Press