STATE TO RESUME COUNT OF CHILDREN IN STATE CUSTODY BECAUSE OF METH

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.

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 due to 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
due to 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 due to "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.

The department's new April report shows 526 investigations of illegal
drugs, including 112 that involved meth. Bradley County topped the
list of meth-related investigations with nine, involving 17 children,
followed by Putnam County's eight investigations involving 14 children.

State Rep. John DeBerry Jr., D-Memphis, chairman of the House Children
and Family Affairs Committee, said Tuesday the count of children
removed from parental custody because of meth "ought to be available
to any taxpayer."