CHEYENNE (AP) - To find the youngest victims of methamphetamine addiction in Wyoming, one need look no further than the nearest hospital nursery or neonatal intensive care unit.

"Methamphetamine use (during pregnancy) can totally and completely disable a child for life," said Jim DeLozier, Natrona and Carbon county district manager for the Wyoming Department of Family Services.

But that is just a tiny part of the problems methamphetamine abuse causes for children of addicted parents, and for the social service and judicial systems that try to help those families.

"Children are experiencing a significant exposure to violence and neglect (due to meth abuse)," said Dennis Embry, president and chief executive officer of the Paxis Institute in Tucson, Ariz. "In my worst-case scenario, my estimation is we have somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 kids (in Wyoming) who are methamphetamine-endangered."

Rick Robb, DFS children's services program manager, said three children died in Wyoming last year as a direct result of methamphetamine abuse.

Methamphetamine also was a factor in 40 percent of all major injuries to children in the state, he said.

Embry, who gave a presentation in Rock Springs last month about the effects of methamphetamine abuse on children and families, said meth abuse interferes with normal parenting instincts.

Consequently, many parents who are using meth no longer respond to their children when they cry or are hurt. Children of meth addicts also are at risk from the environment they live in.

Micronized particles

Embry said they tend to be exposed to the drug even when they have never touched a drop of it.

Kurt Dobbs, director of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, said that is because micronized particles of methamphetamine get all over everything in the environment, including children and everything they touch.

That danger increases in homes with meth labs, where children can be exposed to a number of highly toxic substances. In addition, needles used to inject the drug often are left on the floor or in other areas within the children's reach, he said.

Dobbs said one of the more alarming developments is a new trend for meth users to store their drug supply in children's rooms under crib mattresses or in bureau drawers, for instance in an attempt to keep them from being discovered by law enforcement officers.

Carolyn Yeaman, DFS district manager for Laramie and Albany counties, said children who are exposed to methamphetamine are taken to a hospital emergency room, where doctors and nurses are trained in detoxification protocol.

Because of children's smaller size, the drug has a greater effect on them if it is inhaled, she said. To avoid spreading that contamination to an emergency room or foster home, the child's clothing must be replaced, and they cannot take their favorite blanket or stuffed toy, Yeaman said.

Yeaman said children of meth addicts frequently have eating problems, are malnourished and have bad teeth. Some are filthy, and their medical needs often have not been met.

Million-dollar babies

Foster parents report that babies who have been exposed to methamphetamine tend to be irritable and hard to handle. They often are colicky, experience chronic crying and are not cuddly, Yeaman said.

Children from meth houses sometimes have burns on their skin and/or lesions in their lungs, she said. The damage from exposure often increases when it occurs during pregnancy.

Embry said, "I think we already have several million-dollar babies in Wyoming."

DeLozier cited the example of a baby girl in Casper who has physical and mental disabilities directly attributable to meth use.

"Her medical needs are significantly high," he said. "She has to be aspirated every hour to get the gunk out of her throat so she doesn't suffocate."

In other cases, babies born to meth addicts appear fairly normal after two weeks, when the methamphetamine has left their systems.

"I think the concern is the fact that we don't know what impact that's going to have on the child's development over time," DeLozier said.

Embry said children who are exposed to methamphetamine tend to grow up to be violent, compulsive and unpleasant. They often are unable to calm themselves, and may experience cognitive delays in speech and other areas.

"We're going to see a rise in special education needs for kids," he said, noting that numbers already are up in Wyoming.

In addition, methamphetamine abuse frequently exposes children to violence and abuse by the parents or other addicts in the home. Because the drug is a stimulant, sexual activity increases, and the incidence of physical, emotional or sexual abuse rise significantly, she said.

Children are victims

Yeaman said abuse occurs in other ways too. She noted there have been cases where a teenager's stereo equipment or a child's birthday present were sold to buy drugs.

"We have always heard that drug use is a victimless crime," Yeaman said. "We've been engrained that if I use drugs, I'm not harming anybody but myself. What research is showing is that it is not victimless. It has such an impact on children."

Yeaman noted that about 75 percent of methamphetamine addicts have children.

Meanwhile, the state's foster care system is struggling to keep up with demand for placements for children who must be removed from dangerous environments and for hundreds more officials expect to enter the system in coming months.

As of last week, there were 59 children in foster homes in Laramie County because of meth-related issues, she said. Of those, 29 tested positive for exposure to meth; 27 were indirect placements.

DeLozier said the Natrona County office has had 50 meth-related out-of-home placements since a community methamphetamine conference was held in January. Many of them were under 10 years old; most were under 5.

Embry said as many as 500 to 1,000 children could enter the system through a new law that went into effect this month. That law makes it a felony to use, manufacture or sell methamphetamine around children.

Rock Springs alone is bracing for about 200 children who will need foster homes, he said.

The effects of methamphetamine abuse even extend to families who, though not abusers themselves, could be exposed to toxic substances left in apartments and hotel rooms from previous tenants.

Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell, told of an incident in which a woman with two children, ages 2 and 4, was moving to Worland and went to the Department of Family Services for help to find a place to live.

A DFS employee gave her a list of addresses, and the woman later reported she had found a place that was inexpensive and required no deposit or last-month's rent.

In exchange, she was to clean the house. That raised suspicions for the DFS worker, who asked where the house was.

After getting the address, the employee realized it was the same place where a meth lab arrest had occurred the week before.

"The landlord was asking the mother of a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old to clean up after a meth lab," Harvey said. "That struck home to me. This is widespread, it is all over Wyoming, and it does affect children."