AGENCY WILL TRY NEW COUNT OF KIDS DISPLACED BY METH ABUSE

CHATTANOOGA - After state reports showed methamphetamine abusers losing
custody of their children at a rate of more than one a day, the Tennessee
Department of Children's Services stopped keeping count.

But agency Commissioner Viola Miller and a top aide said Tuesday they would
try to get the count updated from last year.

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The department in August 2003 reported that in the previous 18 months, more
than 600 children of parents involved with the addictive stimulant were
placed in state custody.

After six weeks of promising an updated total of children in state custody
as a result of the drug cooked from hazardous chemicals, a children's
services spokeswoman said employees did not have time for the tedious count.

"They are sitting on desks waiting to be counted while people save children
from meth houses," department spokeswoman Margie Maddox said.

Another department spokeswoman, Carla Aaron, said Tuesday that a "hand
count" provided last year's two reports of children in state custody as a
result of what law officers and child protection workers have described as
an epidemic of meth abuse.

Aaron said the department's computer system was unable to separate
meth-related investigations from other causes of children landing in state
custody.

Miller said later Tuesday in a telephone interview that the department's
technical staff would work to provide an updated count. The department's
director of performance enhancement, Paul Monteballo, said he would try to
have the tally available in a few weeks.

"We know it is getting worse," Miller said. "This methamphetamine thing is
a nightmare. We want to do anything we can to keep the public's attention
on the fact that something has got to be done."

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration records show there were 1,253 meth
labs cleaned up in Tennessee in 2003, topping all states for the third
straight year.

Gov. Phil Bredesen was not available for comment Tuesday about the
discontinued count.

A member of the governor's meth task force, state Rep. Charles Curtiss,
D-Sparta, said children's services officials recently told him that meth
cases put 697 children in state custody in 2003.

He said the department's inability to provide an updated total Tuesday was
because of "either incompetence, somebody is trying to hide something, or
we've got a major problem with our database."

A new report released by the department Tuesday shows its meth-related
investigations in April involved 189 children. The report shows the
department petitioned courts for custody of 77 children, but does not show
how many were placed in state custody.

Miller and Monteballo said the department plans to include that count in
future monthly reports. Monteballo also said he would try to tally
meth-related placements of children in state custody since mid-2003. He
said the new numbers would be more reliable than hand-counted reports.