Meth-using moms who fail to clean up their lives are losing their parental rights

PROVO — A young boy softly sang the familiar Barney tune, "Clean up, clean up . . . everybody do your share" as another chaotic Family Drug Court ended on a recent afternoon.

Little did he know the double meaning of his words.

That's what 17 people who appeared recently before 4th District Judge Kay Lindsay are trying to do. The consequences of not cleaning up their drug-infested lives are dire: They could lose the opportunity of watching "Barney and Friends" or anything else with their children.

Part jurisprudence, part nursery school, Family Drug Court is a chance for mothers and fathers to prove they are capable of being parents. If they can't within a prescribed period of time (typically no longer than 15 months), their parental rights are terminated.

Most participants in the program are single mothers. And on this day, all but two are battling methamphetamine addiction. It might as well be called "Family Meth Court."

That scene could be played out in any of the family or dependency drug courts on the Wasatch Front. Case after case involves a mother or a father on meth. Twenty-one of the 35 current court participants in Provo have a meth problem. Heroin is next with four.

"The meth scourge was part of the reason to start family court," said Casey Christopherson, court coordinator.

Drug courts are an example of how one drug has overloaded state and local government. Prisons, jails, child welfare, publicly funded treatment centers and police blotters are jammed with meth addicts.

And if the cycle isn't broken, officials expect the burden to get heavier as the next generation of users grows up.

"It's just so scary," said Robin Arnold-Williams, state Department of Human Services executive director. "Something has to be done."

Utah's system is maxed to the breaking point — largely because of a drug addiction that causes voluminous ancillary criminal behaviors, causes users to neglect their children and takes much longer to kick than other drugs.

Meth is the drug of choice among women in Utah, two-thirds of whom have young children. But there aren't nearly enough treatment slots, especially in the few residential centers for mothers and children.

After alcohol, which is legal, methamphetamine is the most commonly abused drug among Utahns in rehab. It surpassed marijuana in 2001 and continues an upward trend.

Consider this:

• A flood of 100,000 at-risk children are expected to enter the juvenile court system in the next five years, said Ray Wahl, state juvenile court administrator.