County working to help children affected by meth

FULTON COUNTY, Ind. -- The Fulton County Sheriff's Department says that almost thirty percent of people in their jail are facing meth charges. Many of those adults are parents whose children who are now left alone.



"It is devastating. Children want their parents to be okay and they want to stay with their parents so when we have to remove children because of an issue like this, it is very sad," said Lee Sones, Director of Fulton County Child Services, Rochester office.



Sones says some children exposed to meth homes deal with severe abuse.



"We see an increase in physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect certainly. And if meth is being manufactured there is a chemical issue and you have all kinds of toxic substances in the home and the children might have been exposed to them," said Sones.



Child Services is asking the public to bring it to police attention when children are affected at home by drugs. 



They say they want to put the children in a loving and caring home.



"If children are then in a stable and loving home, they can overcome those problems. The difficulty is getting them into that stable loving home, hopefully it is their own home, but if the parents can't pull it together then we have to step in and make certain that they can get that," said Sones.



The sheriff says he is trying to create a new strategy on how to deal with this growing problem.