News (Media Awareness Project) - US OK: Editorial: Meth Addicts Burden Child Welfare System |
| Title: | US OK: Editorial: Meth Addicts Burden Child Welfare System |
| Published On: | 2006-04-29 |
| Source: | Oklahoman, The (OK) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-14 06:05:40 |
METH ADDICTS BURDEN CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM
CHILD welfare workers saw it happening before most of us realized
there was a problem. The rise of methamphetamine use and addiction
wasn't taking a toll just on adults. The nature of the drug and its
hold on addicts left scores of children abused, neglected, ill and in
some cases, dead.
That's been the case in Oklahoma and many other states. Now it's a
topic of discussion in Congress, where the Senate Finance Committee
this week held a hearing on meth and its effects on social service
agencies. The stories are all too familiar.
Montana officials reported 65 percent of the state's foster care
placements can be attributed to drug use, with meth an issue more
than half the time. Since the mid-1990s, the Oklahoma Department of
Human Services has seen huge increases of children put in foster care
because of parents addicted to meth.
Last fall, a law enforcement official said agents find children or
toys present at about 70 percent of meth lab seizures. And while the
number of meth labs is declining thanks to more restrictions on the
sale of pseudoephedrine -- a primary meth ingredient -- meth use is
still high among those of parenting age.
It's no wonder social services agencies find themselves more
overburdened and overworked than ever. Children exposed to meth can
suffer from a variety of health problems, making them even more
difficult to place with relatives or in foster care. And the lure of
the drug is so strong and cheap to come by, that many parents go back
to using even after prison time.
In one particularly tragic Oklahoma case, an 8-month-old burned to
death after he got stuck against a furnace while in a walker. His
parents were nearby, but authorities said they were passed out from
drug use and had been smoking meth in the days preceding the boy's death.
The Senate committee is without power to force parents to act more
responsibility. But its work in figuring how to help social services
agencies care for children scarred by their parents' meth use is time
well spent.
CHILD welfare workers saw it happening before most of us realized
there was a problem. The rise of methamphetamine use and addiction
wasn't taking a toll just on adults. The nature of the drug and its
hold on addicts left scores of children abused, neglected, ill and in
some cases, dead.
That's been the case in Oklahoma and many other states. Now it's a
topic of discussion in Congress, where the Senate Finance Committee
this week held a hearing on meth and its effects on social service
agencies. The stories are all too familiar.
Montana officials reported 65 percent of the state's foster care
placements can be attributed to drug use, with meth an issue more
than half the time. Since the mid-1990s, the Oklahoma Department of
Human Services has seen huge increases of children put in foster care
because of parents addicted to meth.
Last fall, a law enforcement official said agents find children or
toys present at about 70 percent of meth lab seizures. And while the
number of meth labs is declining thanks to more restrictions on the
sale of pseudoephedrine -- a primary meth ingredient -- meth use is
still high among those of parenting age.
It's no wonder social services agencies find themselves more
overburdened and overworked than ever. Children exposed to meth can
suffer from a variety of health problems, making them even more
difficult to place with relatives or in foster care. And the lure of
the drug is so strong and cheap to come by, that many parents go back
to using even after prison time.
In one particularly tragic Oklahoma case, an 8-month-old burned to
death after he got stuck against a furnace while in a walker. His
parents were nearby, but authorities said they were passed out from
drug use and had been smoking meth in the days preceding the boy's death.
The Senate committee is without power to force parents to act more
responsibility. But its work in figuring how to help social services
agencies care for children scarred by their parents' meth use is time
well spent.
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