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

In fact, the program has grown faster than expected — so fast, Excell is outgrowing its residence cells and meeting spaces. One 8-by-8-foot meeting room in the corner of the Timpanogos 4 unit is crammed with books and self-improvement literature. The room is in use 12 to 14 hours a day.

Women in the program commit to work on their addictions 24 hours a day. They are up at 6 a.m. and spend the entire day in rigidly structured blocks of classes — Narcotics Anonymous, religion, life skills and other classes. These include classes on setting boundaries, relapse, healthy living, eating disorders, grief and anger management.

Fennell so valued the program that when she was faced with being paroled halfway through, she asked the state Board of Pardons and Parole for a 60-day extension so she could stay and finish.

Those who complete substance abuse programs of Excell for women and Conquest for men recidivate at less than 25 percent, Blair said.

"The substance-abuse programs are good investments in funding reductions of incarceration," Blair said. "I believe it is vital for additional monies to be placed in substance abuse programming to meet the needs of encouraging offenders to change their lives."

But that isn't what's happening.

Since 2001, when funds for Blair's programs totaled $1,274,177, the program it serves has exploded.

But there's not enough money to cover the budget. The substance abuse budget for fiscal year '04 was $1,331,800. The budget for fiscal year '05 grew by $100,000, but that money is dedicated to 1 percent salary increases. "When you take out this 1 percent, our budget is smaller this year," Blair said.

Meanwhile, the prison just announced a record inmate population of 6,000.

Arnold-Williams looks at the 145,000 children projected to enter Utah schools over the next decade and wonders.

"What does that mean for child welfare and juvenile justice if we don't stem the tide of things like meth addiction?" she said. "It just means we're going to have additional caseloads."

Moms and dads who use meth also are spawning a new generation of users.

"It's interesting to note that when I first took the bench in 1992, alcohol was the drug of choice for the kids coming before me," Judge Lindsay said. "Marijuana has replaced alcohol for the kids, but meth is showing up more and more in my delinquency drug court."

Due to budget cuts in mental health and substance-abuse services, the needs of those children's families might go unmet. "A judge can really want to do something good to help a family, but if services are not there, chances are not good," Wahl said.

In addition to the obvious human and societal costs, there are untold financial costs, Arnold-Williams said. "And we're paying for it."

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