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Meth use divides Santa Cruz County families

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series examining methamphetamine use in Santa Cruz County and efforts to prevent it.

SANTA CRUZ Women have one reason to come to the Mondanaro Baskin Center: their children.

The center, run by the nonprofit Janus of Santa Cruz, is dedicated to putting families back together, and social workers here say, more and more, methamphetamine addiction is the cause of a family's split.

"Compared to other drugs, there are more women using meth and that's going to have an impact on families, clearly," said Bill Manov, director of the county's Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program.

The increase in meth use among women, many of whom have children, is endemic of the countywide methamphetamine problem that a recent study focused on. According to the Santa Cruz County Methamphetamine Snapshot Study released last month, 49 percent of the families on the county's social services caseload have at least one parent with a history of meth use.

"When you're preoccupied with getting and using the drug, you don't have time left for parenting and family," Manov said.

The county contracts with Janus to provide drug and alcohol treatment services. The agency runs several programs, including Mondanaro Baskin, on an annual budget of about $3 million, most of which comes from government contracts.

One option
The rise in meth-addicted parents being referred to the county's Human Resources Agency started about five years ago, according Judy Yokel, director of Family and Children's Services, the part of the agency that deals with child abuse and neglect.

"The typical picture is more neglect than abuse," Yokel said. "There's a lot of chaos in the family, domestic violence and physical violence going on between the parents. The kids can be very traumatized"

Meth is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant drug made from common household chemicals.

If a parent can't beat a meth habit within a federally mandated time line, it can lead to permanent removal of the children from the home. Parents of children younger than 3 have six months to clean up and parents of older kids have one year, though a judge can extend either deadline by up to six months.

"Those time lines don't work very well for parents in recovery," Yokel said.

Kicking a methamphetamine habit can be particularly tough because extended meth use can change brain chemistry, according to Manov. Recovery can take 12-18 months, he said.

To help parents reunite with their children, Yokel's department started allocating funding toward substance abuse treatment a few years ago and are now vying for a federal grant to develop a treatment curriculum centered on methamphetamine addiction.

The high ceilings and large rooms make the Mondanaro Baskin Center feel much larger than it really is.

Once a French eatery, then the home of Max's restaurant, the alcohol and drug treatment facility for moms opened in the stone house 15 years ago. Up to 10 pregnant women and mothers can live there, along with their young children, during their three- to six-month recovery process. Another 10 or so come to a half-day outpatient treatment program.

The women in the program are getting younger and more often they are meth addicts, according to Nancy Napoli, program director at Mondanaro Baskin.

"A large percentage of the women we're seeing now are meth users," she said.

Mothers get into the program by choice, through the judicial system or by a family member.

"They come in with just no self-esteem," Napoli said. "It's a hard life out there"

Amber Flansaas, 28, was addicted to methamphetamine and was trying to regain custody of her son when she entered Mondanaro Baskin in April 2006.

Methamphetamine Forum

WHAT: First of four community meetings about the recent Santa Cruz County Meth Snapshot Study.

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. today.

WHERE: Santa Cruz police community room,

155 Center St., Santa Cruz.

DETAILS: Contact Santa Cruz Meth Project at

454-HELP or www.santacruzmeth.org

A Montana native, Flansaas had moved to Santa Cruz County with her husband and her first "friend" was a methamphetamine user and dealer. She used for two years, quit temporarily when she got pregnant, but went back to the drug after her son was born. Her addiction destroyed her marriage and she lost her son, Flansaas explained during a September press conference about the county meth study.

"I lived to use and used to live," she said, wiping away tears. "My addiction was blatantly obvious"

Flansaas graduated from the treatment program, which includes parenting skills and basics like how to use public transportation, and now is the house manager at a halfway house. She sponsors other recovering addicts through treatment programs, shares her 4-year-old son with his father and has full custody of her 3-month-old daughter.

"It's really nice to see the family get put back together," said Napoli, showing off several photos of Flansaas' smiling son. "Our whole program is moms and kids. There's a lot of parenting education"

Mondanaro Baskin is the only program of its kind in the county and one of about 340 statewide. Like the county's aim to increase treatment options for methamphetamine addicts, Janus officials have plans to expand the perinatal program and are looking for a new, larger site to move to early next year.

"It's had tremendous success since its inception," said Rudy Escalante, president of the Janus board of directors and a Santa Cruz police lieutenant. "I hope we can grow the program and assist in providing more services countywide"

Contact Jennifer Squires at jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com