On October 1st, 2005 Natrona County will embark on a significant program aimed at early identification of those children impacted by their parent’s methamphetamine use. It is commonly understood and accepted that use of this drug by a parent or guardian can produce significant health problems. Methamphetamine smoking introduces particulate matter into the atmosphere which in turn embeds itself in deep lung tissue. Children, whose lungs are still forming and who tend to breath deeper, are extremely susceptible to these contaminants. The result, respiratory illness such as asthma and pneumonia. Intravenous methamphetamine use produces other obvious hazards, especially for newborns and toddlers who might inadvertently stumble across a used syringe. Perhaps less understood are the well documented effects of the drug on the mind of the user, effects similar to paranoid schizophrenia. These parents may overreact while disciplining their child. What might once have been a spanking on the bottom escalates to bruises, broken bones, a trip to the hospital, or, as we have seen in Natrona County and other communities across Wyoming, a trip to the morgue.

One of the most significant stumbling blocks facing society is the early identification of these kids BEFORE their situation invokes a police response. In considering options, one segment of the community stood out as a possible starting point in this endeavor. Natrona County has approximately 1250-1300 individuals on either probation or parole on any given day. Most of these people have children; all are subject to random chemical testing for controlled substances. A plan rapidly developed. Numerous Natrona County agencies, specifically; Probation and Parole, Police Departments from Casper, Mills, and Evansville, The Natrona County Sheriff’s Department, Public Health, The Wyoming Department of Family Services, and the Natrona County District Attorney identified a need and produced a comprehensive response to address the needs of these children.

Clients of Probation and Parole will be required to disclose the names and other pertinent information of those children for whom they are directly responsible.

If a client tests positive for methamphetamine the Wyoming Department of Family Services will be contacted as well as the appropriate law enforcement agency for the jurisdiction in which the child(ren) live.

As soon as practicable law enforcement, Probation and Parole, and the Wyoming Department of Family Services will locate the children under the care of the client in question and remove them from the client’s care, placing them in a safe shelter care facility or foster home.

All documentation will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration in any future proceedings relevant to the client’s status as a probationer or parolee.

With the implementation of this program we foresee numerous possible outcomes taking place:

1) The most desired of these is that the effected parents will seek to retain custody of their children and enter an appropriate prevention or treatment program.

2) Parents may pro-actively place their children in the care and custody of another responsible adult.

3) Parents using methamphetamine may abscond from Natrona County in order to avoid conflict.

4) Parents will choose to do nothing and face the consequences of their methamphetamine use. For these parents, they will come to understand that the safety of their children will require intervention from partner agencies.

In order to monitor the success or failure of this program incidents will be tracked and data collected to increase it’s efficiency.