Children caught in middle of methamphetamine crisis


By Will Chavez

Staff Writer


TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - A consequence of methamphetamine abuse in eastern Oklahoma is children who lose their families and homes because their parents are arrested for using or making the drug.

Cherokee Nation Indian Child Welfare staff are called to assist these children after the Marshal Service or another law enforcement agency makes a meth arrest and Cherokee children are involved.

The job of ICW after the children are removed from a meth home is to ensure the children's needs are met, ICW Director Linda Woodward said. They are evaluated, provided medical care and provided a place "where they can grow up safe."

"Our responsibility is to see that they have as much normalcy as possible. If they can't stay with their parents, we are their parents. Legally we are their parents when children are in our custody. When I say we, I mean the Cherokee Nation not just ICW, which makes the whole tribe responsible for these children," Woodward said.

If possible, ICW attempts to place children with other family members. If no family can take them they are placed in foster care or with another permanent family.

"One of the things we try to do is reunite children and families. That is extremely difficult because the drugs get a hold of these parents and they relapse. They relapse repeatedly. A lot of them don't want to try because the drugs have a hold of them," Woodward said. "Our focus is the children. Whether the parents rehab or not we've got to ensure these children have some kind of permanency and an expectation of a long-term connection with someone whether it be a family member or someone else."

Nearly all Cherokee Nation programs are affected by the meth problem, said ICW Program Manager Sandy Edgmon. The tribe's medical services, housing, food distribution, elder services and career services all play a part in assisting children and their families.

"There's not an agency within the Cherokee Nation that we don't tap into," Woodward said. "I can't think of any part of the nation we don't use."

These agencies must work cooperatively and fast because time works against the children. They can't wait three years to five years in limbo for their parents to get off drugs, Woodward said.

"The thing with alcohol and other drug users is that they will usually come in and admit they have a problem, but meth users will deny they use meth as long as possible," ICW Program Manager Tami Haley said. "We don't get a good start with those parents for six months to a year. And the court is not going to wait on them."

Haley said in some cases the parents immediately agree to relinquish their children.

"They're basically saying I'm choosing the drugs. That was a rare occurrence prior to meth," she said. "People just give up their babies. They don't even come to court."

Because more children are coming into the ICW system due to meth, more foster parents and parents willing to adopt are needed. There are 110 children currently in tribal custody, but across the country ICW assists 1,250 Cherokee children with finding temporary homes.

"People need to know what's going on here. We need foster homes and adoptive homes for these kids," Woodward said. "It's a tribal problem. It's not just an ICW problem. It's a Cherokee Nation problem."

When parents use and make meth they put their children at risk by leaving the drug where small children can reach it, exposing them to the toxins used to make the drug.

"We've had several cases where parents are not only making it with the kids in the room, but they hide it in the kid's rooms. We've had cases where the drug was in reach of the kids. Some of it was even wrapped in candy wrappers," Haley said.

"The latest case we've seen the meth lab was within 18 feet from where the children were sleeping. In the bedroom there was a 2-week-old baby, a 2-year-old and a 3-year- old, and it (the drug) was in the carpet of the bedroom floor where the kids were crawling, playing and eating," Edgmon said.

How meth exposure affects child development has yet to play out. Haley said not enough studies have been done to determine what the long-term affects may be for children exposed to meth.

For more information about being a foster parent or adopting call (918) 431-4115 or e-mail adoption@cherokee.org.


will-chavez@cherokee.org • (918) 453-3961