Drug-Related Child Abuse in Iowa

Available as a PDF Document.

The 2005 Iowa Legislature debated extensively how best to reduce clandestine methamphetamine labs. In multiple hearings, committee meetings, and debates, legislators argued that reducing clandestine meth labs was critical to protecting Iowa’s children. Citing Iowa’s child abuse figures, legislators contended that restricting these labs was a major child protection concern.

The debate resulted in the passage of legislation that significantly restricts and monitors the sale of pseudoephedrine – a necessary ingredient for manufacturing methamphetamine. In his statement at the bill’s signing ceremony, Governor Vilsack stressed the bill’s importance to Iowa’s children: “This legislation is an important first step as the makers of this poison have robbed countless children of their childhood and future. The people of Iowa, in supporting the toughest and smartest bill in the country, have sent meth makers everywhere a clear message – we will do whatever is necessary to protect our children and to protect our state.”

This report will review what the last five years of Iowa’s child abuse figures (2001-05) show about the extent of harm to the state’s children from parental use of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. The report will examine trends in drug-related child abuse across the state and the differences in abuse rates among its counties. The report will also discuss what the figures do and do not reveal and the challenges ahead for Iowa.

An Overview of Child Abuse in Iowa

Iowa law defines child abuse as one or more of several different actions or inactions by a child’s caretaker. The three categories into which most abuse has fallen, until recently, are: denial of critical care (commonly called “neglect”), physical injury, and sexual abuse. Two-thirds to three-quarters of all child abuse typically falls into the first of these categories, denial of critical care. For instance, in 2005, the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) determined that there were 11,958 confirmed instances of denial of critical care, representing 73.3 percent of all child abuse. In that same year, DHS found that there were 2,009 cases of physical injury (12.3 percent of abuse) and 847 instances of sexual abuse (5.2 percent of abuse).

Through June 2004, Iowa was the only state with two categories of child abuse specifically related to the use or manufacturing of illegal substances. The first category of abuse covers situations where an illegal drug is present in a child’s body as a consequence of the actions of a parent or other care­taker. In 2005, 1,354 (8.3 percent of all abuse) of confirmed child abuse cases involved this type of abuse.

In 2001, the Iowa Legislature became the first state to add a new category of child abuse to include situations where a child’s parent or other caretaker is involved in manufacturing a dangerous drug in a child’s presence. Unlike the first category, the only illegal drug included is methamphetamine. In 2005, DHS discovered 128 instances (0.8 percent of all abuse) of this second category of abuse.

Table 1 lists the types of confirmed child abuse in Iowa from 2001 to 2005. Some categories of abuse increased overall from 2001 to 2005, and some have declined. Confirmed cases of denial of critical care rose by 982 cases from 2001 to 2005 – an increase of 8.9 percent. By contrast, the number of confirmed cases of physical injury and sexual abuse were each 36 percent lower in 2005 than in 2001.

The 1,354 cases that involved the presence of illegal drugs in a child’s body was twice as high as the number of such cases in 2001, when there were 678 confirmed cases. Nonetheless, the 2005 presence of an illegal drug figures were 26.5 percent lower than the all-time high number of such cases in 2004 (1,713).

The number of confirmed cases of manufacturing a dangerous drug in child’s presence also declined significantly in 2005 from the preceding year – reaching the lowest level since 2001. This decline seems to indicate some success in reducing the number of clandestine meth labs in Iowa.

TABLE 1

Types of Child Abuse in Iowa, 2001-05

* Figures for July 1 to December 31, 2001 only

County Differences in Drug-Related Child Abuse

Rates of drug-related child abuse have varied widely among Iowa’s counties during the last five years. Table 2 and Chart 1 show the counties with the highest annual rates for illegal drugs in a child’s body, averaged for 2001-05. Sixteen counties had average rates of more than 30 children per 10,000 in whose body an illegal drug was found. By contrast, fifteen counties (Adair, Adams, Boone, Cass, Cedar, Decatur, Grundy, Howard, Fremont, Marion, Ringgold, Story, Union, Wayne, and Winneshiek) had rates of fewer than 3 such children per 10,000.

Table 3 and Chart 1 show the fourteen counties with average rates of more than 10 children per 10,000 who were found in the presence of parents or other caretakers manufacturing methamphetamine. By contrast, fifteen counties (Carroll, Cedar, Cherokee, Greene, Grundy, Guthrie, Harrison, Iowa, Mitchell, Plymouth, Poweshiek, Scott, Sioux, Woodbury, and Worth) averaged fewer than 1 child per 10,000 found annually in the presence of meth manufacturing.

TABLE 2

Counties with the Highest Annual Rate of Confirmed Cases Involving Illegal Drugs in a Child’s Body, 2001 to 2005  

TABLE 3

Counties with the Highest Annual Rate of Confirmed Cases Involving Manufacturing a Dangerous Drug in a Child’s Presence , 2001 to 2005

* Figures for July 1 to December 31, 2001 only

CHART 1

Iowa Counties with the Highest Rates of Drug-Related Abuse, 2001-05

Analysis and Future Challenges

It is important to recognize that Iowa’s drug-related abuse numbers represent only some of the instances where children are harmed by parental use of methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. First, these figures include only those cases where officials discover illegal drugs in a child’s system or discover a child present where meth is being manufactured. Cases not discovered are, obviously, not included.

Secondly, Iowa’s figures count only some of the harm that children suffer. As noted in congressional testimony by the director of the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, Nancy K. Young, Ph.D., children whose parents use methamphetamine face multiple risks, including chronic neglect, chaotic home lives, violence associated with drug sales, and inconsistent parenting. The child protection system determines that many children in those circumstances are victims of other types of child abuse, such as denial of critical care, physical injury, and sexual abuse. Indeed, separate DHS studies in 2003 and 2005 determined that parental use of methamphetamine was a factor in almost half of ongoing child welfare cases in SW Iowa.

In her congressional testimony, Dr. Young examined the particular challenges to child protection from parental methamphetamine use. Compared to people who use other illegal drugs, according to Dr. Young, meth users:

• Begin using substances and enter treatment at a younger age
• Are more likely to use multiple drugs
• Have a higher frequency of drug use
• Report feeling “less addicted”
• Are more likely to use meth continuously through the day and consistently over time, rather than concentrating use in the evening
• Spend less money to purchase the drug
• Are more likely to be female

A coalition of more than 100 agencies and organizations effectively supported passage of legislation restricting access to pseudoephedrine during the 2005 session. No similar coalition has come together to address the remaining substantial challenges from parental use of meth or other illegal drugs. As a result, funding for drug treatment for parents or support for their children has not kept up with the extent of harm to children.

Note: Tables containing the data for this report and the DHS study from 2003 may be found at www.pcaiowa.org/child_abuse_data.html. Helpful resources and information on methamphetamine and its effects on families are at http://childwelfare.gov/responding/meth.cfm.

Available as a PDF Document.

For general comments and questions, please contact:

Prevent Child Abuse Iowa
505 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Phone: 515-244-2200
Toll Free: 800-237-1815
Fax: 515-280-7835
Email:

Return to Top

 
HomeAbout UsPublicationsTrainingAdvocacyEventsMediaContact UsMembershipFAQs