Missouri Juvenile Justice Association Develops Project for Children in Meth Labs

Missouri leads the nation in the number of methamphetamine (meth) labs. Recent statistics by the Drug Enforcement Agency's EPIC Form concluded that over 500 children were found in seized meth labs in Missouri in 2002. Children found in meth labs often require immediate medical attention.  To best meet the needs of these children, other states, like California and Washington (OJJDP Bulletin December 2004) and Nebraska have successfully implemented multi-disciplinary protocols.  The Missouri Juvenile Justice Association's Children in Meth Labs Project seeks to improve the safety and medical care of children found in meth labs through the development of a coordinated multi-disciplinary and inter-agency response.

Specifically this project will:

•  Establish a multi-disciplinary "Steering Committee" comprised of representatives of fire safety, law enforcement, juvenile/family courts, medical, Children's Division, prosecutors, mental health and others that may be identified during the process;

•  Promote state and local information sharing and multi-disciplinary partnerships among and between agencies responding to meth labs where children are found;

•  Develop multi-disciplinary, interagency protocols for children found in meth labs;

•  Utilizing these protocols as a foundation, design a curriculum used for multi-disciplinary training;

•  Using the developed curriculum, provide regional training programs in Missouri, to multi-disciplinary personnel (law enforcement, fire safety, juvenile/family courts, Children's Division, mental health, prosecutors, and others that may be identified

•  Post the protocols on a website and develop a web-based course based on the developed curriculum.

While there have been many efforts to address the needs of public safety personnel who seize or clean up meth labs, little attention in Missouri has been paid to the needs of the children found in these facilities.  When jurisdictions do not have a set protocol for assessing and serving children located at meth labs, children's needs may be overlooked or an assumption may be made that another agency will address the needs.  The jurisdiction may fail to remove children from conditions of endangerment or fail to gather information at the scene needed for appropriate care. 

These issues are compounded by the variety of personnel and disciplines that respond to seizure of meth labs and conduct the investigations.  These personnel may represent law enforcement, first responders/fire safety, Children's Division, prosecution, environmental health, juvenile/family courts, and medical and mental health professionals.  They respond according to their own agency's protocols and, in most instances, operate independently.  The result of this lack of interagency coordination is a haphazard approach to the care of the children and one that varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction depending upon the personnel involved in the seizure of the meth lab.

About the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association

Established in 1977, the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association (MJJA) is a statewide, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to ensuring equal treatment, due process and enhanced opportunities for all children within Missouri's juvenile justice system.   These are abused/neglected, delinquent and runaway children.  MJJA is the leader in advocating for the needs of the over 84,000 children referred to Missouri 's juvenile justice system each year. We lead the state of Missouri in juvenile justice collaborations in the areas of training, advocacy, publications, curriculum development, educational programming, public awareness and standards development on juvenile justice issues.   Collaboration is at the foundation of all of MJJA's efforts, and is key to its work and achievements. For additional information go to MJJA's website: www.mjja.org (Press Release on the meth labs project: http://www.mjja.org/default.asp?c=03&sc=02 ) or email Julie Cole Agee, MJJA Executive Director, at julie@mjja.org.

About the National Juvenile Justice Network

The National Juvenile Justice Network is a newly formed and growing coalition of states working towards juvenile justice reform on the state-level. The mission of the National Network is to enhance the capacity of statewide juvenile justice coalitions to advocate for fair, equitable and developmentally appropriate adjudication and treatment for all children, youth and families involved in the juvenile justice system.  The Network currently comprises 22 states and is housed at the Coalition for Juvenile Justice in Washington, DC. For more information, contact Sarah Bryer, Director, at 202/467-0864 x105, or email bryer@juvjustice.org.