Friday, March 30, 2007 10:35 PM CDT
Care packs unveiled for disrupted children
Backpacks aimed to ease children’s transition from meth-afflicted families
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
SULLIVAN -- Kim Adamson is a social worker with a big heart.
She needs it with a case file that includes 60 children in Moultrie, Shelby and Douglas counties being raised by their grandparents.
Where are the parents? Many are in prison or facing charges for drug offenses, including methamphetamine manufacturing or sales.
“We have kids only months old up to the age of 10 being raised by grandparents,” said Adamson, who is a caregiver adviser for the grandparents raising grandchildren program for Mid-Illinois Senior Services.
From May 2005 to February 2007, 352 children had their lives affected by meth labs across the state. The children’s lives are turned upside down during raids by law officers arresting their parents on drug charges. And the children are then placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.
For a time, officers saving the children from a dangerous, drug-contaminated environment seem like the “bad guys” to the children.
Dressed in body armor and brandishing guns while their faces might be covered for protection from meth fumes or for anonymity. But the officers are there to save the children from the self-destructive addiction of their parents.
Adamson helped kick off a program Friday to help officers offer some assistance to these children other than a hug or words of reassurance during these drug raids.
At a news conference in Sullivan, 200 backpacks specially designed by Adamson were released to officers of the East Central Illinois Task Force, Department of Children and Family Services and city and county officers in the three counties covered by Mid-Illinois Senior Services. An Illinois State Police officer also was present.
The backpacks will be given to children taken from methamphetamine-contaminated environments for the purpose of reducing the effects of such a traumatic event as seeing their parents arrested and leaving their home in the custody of complete strangers.
“It is an incredible feeling to be able to hand the children something that can help them. It can ease the transition,” said Mark Peyton of the East Central Illinois Task Force.
The backpacks will contain blankets, baby wipes for decontamination purposes, temporary scrubs clothing and other comfort items.
When officers take the children from these meth labs, all clothing and toys for the children must be left behind due to the dangers from the residual effects of meth. Private donations paid for the backpacks.
“We had age-appropriate items for different children. It gives the younger ones something to cling to. It also offers children something to take their minds off what they are facing. It is something for them to know someone cares for them right then,” Adamson said.
Douglas County Sheriff Charlie McGrew said officers do have a soft spot for children involved in these situations.
“In some ways they do suffer the most,” said McGrew, who helped map out the idea with Adamson for acquiring the backpacks. “But meth is a danger to society and law officers when they make the arrests.”
Adamson said each pack will include an information sheet for grandparents facing a new parenting burden. It offers suggestions on how they can get assistance for medical coverage, finances and also contacts with support groups.
“We’re letting grandparents know there is help out there for them. They need help if their grandchildren have been dropped in the middle of the night,” Adamson said.
Contact Adamson at 1-800-736-4675 for more information.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
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CLICK TO ENLARGE
 Kevin Kilhoffer (JG/T-C)
John Love, Sullivan Police Department Assistant Chief, third from left, and Kim Adamson, with the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren program, second from left, go through some of the backpacks at the Mid-Illinois Senior Services Center in Sullivan on Friday.
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Fxiccxypxc wrote on May 10, 2007 11:31 AM: