COCAINE ABUSE HAS LINGERING EFFECTS

FREEPORT - Cocaine arrests are increasing in Stephenson County, and
officials say children who are raised in drug environments are
oftentimes caught up in a cycle of dysfunction that creates serious
developmental and socialization problems.

Local police said that when they make a crack cocaine arrest and find
children in the home, the solution can be to place children with
relatives or reliable friends, seen by officials as better
alternatives to placing them with strangers.

"The Department of Children and Family Services agrees and always
prefers such a placement in all cases where they are forced to remove
children from a home under any circumstances," Assistant Chief of
Police Robert Smith said.

Smith said it is not uncommon for children to be present during the
execution of a search warrant. Department officers are trained to
interact with children after the house and occupants are secure in
order to minimize the emotional impact and to allay any lingering
fear of the police, he said.

Calling DCFS is avoided unless there is evidence of physical abuse or
neglect, or if all of the adults in the home are placed under arrest.

"One could argue that raising children in an environment where
criminal activity is a daily occurrence is tantamount to child abuse,
but I don't know that the state has the luxury of this point of
view," Smith said.

Intervention

Darcy Bielema, a Naperville attorney who specializes in placing
abused children with new families through adoptions, said she sees
the results of raising children in environments where drugs are
present. Oftentimes, they have to be placed with new families over
and over again because they're out of control and too hard to handle.

She argues for quicker intervention.

"When parents are doing drugs, crack or meth or whatever, they are
not good parents. Kids stay there too long and they either get hurt
physically or they get let go too long in their schooling," she said.
"We need to identify those kids in a coactive way - not let them get
behind in school and not have them be labeled."

DCFS representatives said they cannot by law intervene unless the
child is being abused or neglected, and unless they are called.
Kendall Marlowe, acting deputy director of communications for DCFS,
said the number of indicated substance-abuse investigations DCFS has
conducted in Stephenson County are low: only three in 2006, two in
2005 and one in 2004.

"But we take all calls," Marlowe said. "We will never turn down a
call or information we receive, but by law, it has to rise to a
certain level to constitute abuse or neglect."

Crack babies

The problems are worse for children whose mothers were smoking crack
while pregnant, according to Ira Chasnoff, a Chicago pediatrician,
professor and author on the subject. A wide range of physical and
behavioral problems are seen with these children, including poor
growth, significant eating and sleeping problems, hyperirritability,
and hyper-sensitivity to touch, movement and eye contact.

"By school age, prenatally exposed children have high rates of
off-task behavior, distractibility, short attention span, impulsive
behavior, and aggressive behavior," Chasnoff said.

But Dr. Michael Perry, CEO of FHN, said the local health network
rarely, if ever, sees a child brought in who has been impacted by a
mother's use of crack. However, the emergency room staff sees an
increasing number of adults for crack-related medical issues, he said.

Not doing enough?

Bielema said one problem is in how state money is spent at DCFS.

"They put too much money in administrative things," she said. "And
they've cut back on their training for foster parents. Foster parents
don't know how to deal with these children."

One Freeport resident said ridding Freeport of crack can't happen
fast enough, especially for the children. The woman, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because of safety concerns, said she lives in
a "crack-infested neighborhood that is filled with children." She
said she has approached the mayor and police numerous times about
what she sees and has tried to clean up her neighborhood by fingering
crack users.

"There's lots of children here," she said. "They are just so innocent."

Bielema suggested there is hope - if the cycle of drug habits between
parents and their children can be broken.

"Kids have the ability to live positive lives if we get them in good
homes," she said. "But when kids age-out, we're seeing kids third
generation, fourth generation, as drug addicts. That's scary. Somehow
we missed the boat when the kid was in state custody or in the home
of his parents."