Meth labs take toll on kids

Bill Peyton has seen firsthand what methamphetamine can do to families,
especially to children.

Neglect, abuse, exposure to dangerous chemicals -- the cases have grown as
meth's use has grown, he and others said recently.

Alcohol abuse has been the traditional No. 1 drug problem in Illinois,
while marijuana was second for years, said Mr. Peyton, southern regional
administrator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Now, meth has become the drug of choice in Illinois and Iowa, and its
effects are becoming more obvious to communities dealing with the epidemic.

"Meth went from off the chart -- not even seeing it -- to a quick second in
a two-or three-year period. It's increasingly a drug of choice," Mr. Peyton
said. "We're seeing more meth. It's affecting more children."

Local law-enforcement agencies have handled more methamphetamine cases in
recent years, said Rene Sandoval, director of Quad City Metropolitan
Enforcement Agency.

"Several years ago, we actually weren't having any methamphetamine labs in
the Quad-Cities area," he said. "You can almost see it sweeping across the
state."

Ingredients to make the drug, including common cold medicines, often are
readily available, and rural areas give meth "cookers" space to operate
undetected by neighbors or police.

Thousands of children across the country have been taken from their
meth-abusing parents in recent years, placed with relatives or shifted into
already overloaded foster-care systems.

Scores of youngsters nationwide have been injured, and a dozen or more have
been killed. Thousands have been born with traces of meth in their bodies.

A high percentage of children taken from homes where meth labs are
operating test positive for the drug in their bodies because the substances
used to make it are around the home, Mr. Peyton said. And those ingredients
are dangerous.

"When a child is in a meth lab, especially smaller children, they are
extremely vulnerable to the toxic fumes and the toxic waste that is in that
home," Mr. Sandoval said.

Making one pound of meth produces five to six pounds of hazardous waste, he
said.

Chemicals used to make meth also can explode. When they are combined, they
produce poisonous fumes. Police wear protective suits and breathing devices
when they go into a meth lab.

"Obviously, those children aren't wearing protective clothing, and they are
breathing those toxic fumes," Mr. Sandoval said. "The children don't have
any control, and they definitely need people to protect them."

Children who live with meth labs often suffer from neglect and sometimes
abuse from their addicted parents.

Because meth is a relatively new drug, state agencies still are working out
how to respond. The state police, attorney general's office and Department
of Children and Family Services are working out procedures on how to handle
drug-endangered children. The so-called protocol will include medical
procedures and tests.

"What do we need to do medically for them? Even medical providers are a
little behind the curve on what tests need to be done," Mr. Peyton said.

The state takes custody of children found in homes with meth labs and
places them with foster parents, Mr. Peyton said.

"Just because parents are using meth, we can't say they don't have the same
rights as any other parent," he said. "If they can successfully overcome
the issues that are causing risk for their children, they can regain
custody of their children."

Since the state tries to find children permanent homes within two years of
entering the system, some parents can't resolve their problems in time to
get their children back, Mr. Peyton added.

"Because of the guidelines we operate under in trying to reach permanency
within a couple years, we run into instances where parents may fail," he said.

Angela White, a clinical evaluator at the Rock Island County Council on
Addictions, said meth addicts can be rehabilitated.

"The person has to not just get off the drugs and realize they have to go a
different way, a different lifestyle, they also have to be willing to know
it's going to take time to do this," she said. "They are going to have to
make major changes."

Counselors help parents with their rehabilitation, to return to the
community and provide an adequate place for their children to live, she said.

"Unfortunately, there have been cases where the children haven't been
returned," she said. "You have to do what's in the best interest of the
child, and, unfortunately, it's not necessarily with the biological parent."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Meth facts

- -- Iowa ranks third nationally in the number of methamphetamine seizures.
Illinois is ninth.

- -- Authorities have dismantled more than 50,000 clandestine meth labs in
the United States since 2001, including some 4,000 in Iowa.

- -- About 30 percent of meth labs are "mom-and-pop" operations in homes
where children live.

- -- Nearly 1,100 meth labs were found in Illinois in 2003, according to the
state attorney general's office.

- -- The amount of meth seized by the Illinois State Police increased from
3,433 grams during in 1994 to 26,597 grams in 2003 -- a 675 percent
increase, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said.