Meth Use Contributing to Foster Care Cases

Some rural counties are reporting as many as two in five children ended up in foster care because their parents used, sold or manufactured methamphetamine. Two areas of the state are seeing high amounts of meth activity.

In Northwest Georgia, from Cartersville to the Tennessee border, Georgia Division of Family and Children Services caseworkers are seeing a steady increase in the number of meth related cases.

In the southern part of the state around the Bainbridge-Thomasville, authorities are also observing increases in meth production and distribution.

Several local officials in those areas say the number of meth related foster care cases is higher than forty five percent. Hard numbers from the state are difficult to come by, but a spokeswoman for the Division of Family and Children Services says meth related cases are increasing.

That’s despite recent law changes aimed at curbing meth production, use and distribution. In all, there are about fifteen thousand children in Georgia’s foster care system.