'COCAINE MOM' UNDERGOES STERILIZATION

She Says She Hasn't Used Drugs Since April 1, Has Regained Custody Of Baby

Waukesha -- After being detained by officials during two pregnancies, the
Waukesha woman known statewide as the "cocaine mom" said Friday that she
has undergone sterilization to avoid having more children.

The woman, who was in court Friday to announce she was ready to resolve a
drug paraphernalia case, said in an interview outside the courtroom that
she was concentrating on her 6-week-old son and her drug treatment and no
longer wanted more children.

"I got my tubes tied," the 26-year-old woman said. "This is my last one,"
she added as she gestured to her infant, wrapped in a blue and white
checked blanket.

That the woman had custody of the baby was news itself. A judge has closed
court hearings on the county's move to provide protective services for the
infant. As she cradled her baby, she said: "They aren't going to get him.
I'm going to show Waukesha that I can do it without them."

The woman's case made national headlines in 1995 when a judge ordered her
detained under child protection laws to protect her fetus from her cocaine
abuse. She lost her parental rights to that son, now 2 1/2.

The woman, who is being identified by the Journal Sentinel only as Angela
to protect her children's identity, is living with her youngest son in a
drug abuse treatment facility.

She voluntarily entered the facility in April just days before a judge
ordered her there for violating her probation on a drug paraphernalia case.
She violated the conditions of her bail on the possession of crack-cocaine
pipes case by testing positive for drugs, which came during the eighth
month of her latest pregnancy.

Assistant County Corporation Counsel William Domina said in an interview
Friday that he could not discuss Angela's medical history.

He said that while the county never advocates sterilization, even in its
worst child neglect or abuse cases, the procedure in some cases can end "a
continuation of children who will end up in foster care."

"Sterilization is not the object of the county in any termination of
parental rights or CHIPS (Child in Need of Protective Services) case,"
Domina said.

"Our goal is to work with families and not to have families perpetuate poor
environments for children," he said.

Last spring when the state Supreme Court ruled in Angela's case that state
law did not allow the detention of pregnant, drug-abusing women to protect
their fetuses, there were some who advocated for the woman's sterilization.

Angela said Friday that she decided on her own to undergo tubal ligation,
in part because her last pregnancy was "too painful."

"I thought I would die," she said.

She insisted once again that she would regain custody of her 2 1/2-year-old
son, who was the subject of the illegal 1995 detention. That boy remains in
foster care while she appeals. The foster parents want to adopt him.

"I will get him back," said Angela, who appeared healthy and rested and
wore a long green dress she said the treatment center had given her.

Ordered by a judge to stay at the facility around the clock and to leave
the grounds only with her counselor, Angela has not walked away from
treatment and has actively participated in group and individual sessions,
officials said.

She is tested weekly for drugs, and all tests have been clean, according to
Wisconsin Correctional Service, a private agency monitoring her as a
condition of her bail.

"She's making great progress," said Craig Mastantuono, the assistant state
public defender representing her on the paraphernalia charge.

"If your paper continues to refer to her as the 'cocaine mom,' that would
be unfair and off-base, because that's just not the current situation," he
said.

The woman told a reporter that the last time she used drugs was April 1 --
17 days before she delivered her son. "I had some withdrawals," she said.
"I got so depressed. But I did my steps . . . They're helping me. And I
have parenting classes."

She said she "loved" living at the facility, the identity of which was
ordered to remain confidential under court seal.

In court Friday, Mastantuono told Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. that the
woman would not be going to trial next week as scheduled to contest her
drug paraphernalia charge.

Mastantuono said that at a June 18 hearing she would plead guilty or no
contest and be recommended for probation. Prosecutors will not seek any
jail time or a fine, he said.

The woman likely will remain at the treatment center for six months to as
long as a year, he said.

In ruling on Angela's 1995 detention, the state Supreme Court said that a
fetus was not a child entitled to protections under the non-criminal CHIPS
laws.

Shortly after that legal victory, the woman, still using drugs by her own
admission, became pregnant again. Months later, she was arrested and
charged with possession of crack-cocaine pipes.

She was released on a $250 signature bond with conditions that she remain
drug-free. However, in March authorities said she tested positive for
cocaine twice. The tests were ordered as part of an unrelated Juvenile
Court case involving one of her older sons, who live with their grandmother.