When Helping You Is Hurting Me

When helping you is hurting me

View more presentations from Lisa Dickson.

Man on a mission: Sheriff Burgess cares for "meth orphans"

In 2004, the results of methamphetamine production and abuse were evident throughout Cumberland County, Tennessee. The local jail was grossly overcrowed. Even the jail gymasium and library were being used to provide bed space for inmates. The county was spent $300,000 a year on medical costs at the jail, largely because of meth abuse.

Worst of all were the effects on the children of methamphetamine abusers and "cooks." Side-effects of meth use include violence and hallucinations, and parents experiencing those side effects often neglect and/or abuse their children.

Contamination is also a concern. Children are often exposed to poisonous vapors from their parents cooking the illegal drug, due to the use of hazardous chemicals such as brake cleaner. As a result, these children commonly suffer respiratory problems, tremors, difficulty with coordination, an intolerance to human touch and a susceptibility to learning disabilities.

Throughout Tennessee, hundreds of children have been taken from squalid homes and meth-addicted parents, and placed in foster care. But in 2004, the county lacked social services facilities and could only house the children in jail until foster parents could be found.

Sheriff Butch Burgess has responded by making rescuing "meth orphans" his personal crusade. He and his wife have cared for 33 foster children, most of whom have come from homes of methamphetamine users.

"We're going to defend the kids. I don't want to let any child fall through the cracks. We're putting all our eggs in their basket," Burgess stated emphatically.

Under his leadership, Cumberland County established a task force to protect "drug endangered children."

In 2005, Burgess raised $19,000 for the downpayment on a 2,000-square-foot stucco house. He and other concerned community members worked together to renovate it and transform it into a House of Hope, an intake facility for children who have been removed from their parents.

The House of Hope has free meals, toys, beds and volunteers on call. Local doctors provide free medical services. The goal is one-stop-shopping and comprehensive care. Children are placed in foster homes as quickly as possible.

Burgess believes that if children of meth-addicts can be placed in normal loving environments, many will recover from their traumatic experiences and will be less likely to become addicts, themselves.

Simply arresting adults, he added, does little to end the addiction cycle. "It's just like trying to shovel quicksand out of a hole. The more you shovel out, the faster it's coming in."

For more information, please visit: http://www.ccchouseofhope.com/

Source:
Glanton, Dahleen. On a mission, sheriff opens home to children of meth. Chicago Tribune, Jan. 10, 2007, News pg. 7.
Potter, Mark. Meth labs: A toxic threat to rural America. NBC News, March 10, 2004.
Potter, Mark. Town comes together to open House of Hope: Community pitches in to help children orphaned by meth problem. NBC News, Aug. 10, 2005.

Foster Children & Attachment

Ironically enough, just as I have been given the opportunity to be a "voice" for foster children in my upcoming trip to Seattle, I now have laryngitis. I am just praying that my voice comes back by the time I arrive on Friday!

Losing the Foster Parent
Because parental rights are prioritized, attachments between children and their foster parents are often ignored. The presumption is that the child can and will reunite with biological parents if at all possible.

Sometimes children who have been raised by birth by foster parents are sent back to biological parents who are effectively strangers to them.

Not only may children not have attached to their biological parents, but they also might have long-standing experiences of trauma with a parent. In these cases, children who have found sanctuary and built trust in a foster home are sent back to biological parents who have neglected and abused them for most of their lives.

Unfortunately, since the bond between foster parent and child is often minimalized, children who return home often do not receive supportive services to cope with the loss of the foster parent.

Meanwhile question remains: Will the biological parents maintain their progress? Or, will they fall back into old behavior patterns? It is vital in these cases to continue to monitor safety plans for the children after they return home. All too often, this does not happen.

Losing the Biological Parent
The reverse is also true. If parental custody is severed and the child is adopted, the child will still need time to grieve the loss of biological parents.

Even in the context of a loving adoptive home, with healthy meals, stimulating activities, support and resources, the child doesn't enter that home with a "blank slate."

Paradoxically, the more safe and secure the home is, the more likely the child is to grieve lost parents. Why? Because grieving is a process. Children can only begin to grieve within a safe and secure relationship.

Only within a safe, secure environment can a child:
-Face their losses
-Confront their anger
-Move past denial
-Emerge from behind a shield of detachment
-Recognize and resign themselves to the fact that any fantasies that they might have had about a reunion will not come true

This painful work usually takes place after a child enters a permanent home -- and at the very time that the social services often terminates services.

For both scenarios, follow-up services are essential. Losing either the foster or biological relationship might be very painful if the child has established a bond.

Source: Rebuilding attachments with traumatized children: Healing from losses,
violence, abuse and neglect by Richard Kagan, PhD.