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CARA HETLAND: If meth is a snapshot, there are lots of angles. The wide angle view shows how little we really know about the drug and the problem. Zoom in and you see a system trying to keep up. The close-up shows us faces of the children and the people charged with their care.

That last image is what this story is really about, but we won't start there. We'll start with Tami Swenson. She may have the best sense of the problem.

TAMI SWENSON: Well, I think that one of the things that really stood out is just that we're really just beginning to track this, and we don't-- and there's just a lot more that we don't know than we do.

CARA HETLAND: Swenson is the data coordinator in the University of Minnesota's Center for Advanced Studies in child welfare. Overall, foster care placement is declining in Minnesota. However, officials have seen an increase in children who need foster care because their parents abuse chemicals. In fact, the increase is 82% over a three-year period.

TAMI SWENSON: We know that this placement is due to parent chemical abuse reasons, but we don't know if that's marijuana, or cocaine, or heroin, or anything like that.

CARA HETLAND: Swenson says in counties that have seen an increase in meth arrests, there is also an increase in foster care placement. Children whose parents use or make meth are often neglected. Many are thin and hungry. They can have toxic chemical residue on their skin and toys. Many have respiratory problems. All suffer emotional problems.

Barbara Knox is a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. She says it's too soon to know the long-term effects these children will suffer. Knox says most of the research focuses on babies born addicted to meth. It's a repeat of 20 years ago when the focus was on babies born addicted to crack. And like then, now, doctors and researchers have more questions than answers.

Knox says some things are clear. She says if a woman does meth early in her pregnancy, there's a greater chance the baby will experience brain damage or even pre-birth strokes.

BARBARA KNOX: These children were starting to have neurologic damage, and some damage to their organs, as well as to the respiratory system.

CARA HETLAND: Knox says most doctors don't know what to look for in newborns. For instance, if an infant's first stool sample is tested, doctors know what the mother ingested for the last six months. But if that first sample is missed, tests can only verify what the mother took in in the last 48 hours.

Now, our picture of meth shifts. We see a system trying to keep up. Hospitals in one Minnesota County serve as a model. Anoka County has a baby a week born addicted to meth. In one month, there were as many as 11 babies born with meth in their system. Jacki Humphrey is a social worker.

JACKI HUMPHREY: It happens left and right, and we have a lot of pregnant using women that we're following that may or may not test positive at birth. And then we always get some that we've never heard of, that we don't hear of until the baby is born.

CARA HETLAND: The baby is taken away from the mother. She isn't charged with a crime. But in order to get her baby back, the mother has to get treatment and prove to the court she can stay sober. If not, her parental rights are terminated and the baby is placed for adoption.

In Anoka County, there's a foster mom who knows more about meth than she ever thought she would. Terri Rehani has had about 70 foster kids in the last 14 years. She doesn't want to talk about her kids in front of them, so we meet at a downtown office building. Rehani is known as the meth expert in Anoka County. For years, she has rocked babies going through meth withdrawal.

TERRI REHANI: And they're really fussy when you first get them. They cry a real high-pitched scream. And they just get a wincey look on their face when they're hurting. And they're hard to calm.

CARA HETLAND: She also takes older kids whose parents are arrested for doing meth. Over the years, these kids have gotten tougher. They've experienced more in a short lifetime and often become the caregiver. Rehani says these children have to learn how to be cared for.

TERRI REHANI: They don't think they're going to get fed. If our electricity goes out because of a storm, they're sure we didn't pay the bill, things like that. They are surprised when we go shopping when the shelves aren't bare.

And just the calmness that goes on even in our busy household to them is-- they don't understand it. They're used to chaos all the time. And sometimes, they try and create that chaos also.

CARA HETLAND: Right now, Rehani has four foster children in her home. Two of them came to her about a year ago because of medical neglect.

TERRI REHANI: Their teeth were rotting right out of their mouth. And just after they had pulled them and stuff, then mom was pregnant, and it turned out that the baby was tested positive for meth. And so then all it made sense as to why the neglect was so bad.

CARA HETLAND: Soon, these children will learn they can't see their mom anymore. They are being adopted. Terri Rehani has two other foster children, a six-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy. Shelene Dumdei is their mom. Her son was born in February, addicted to meth.

SHELENE DUMDEI: I think that I was almost giving up because I didn't know if I could do this with another baby. I didn't know if I was a good mom.

CARA HETLAND: Dumdei says she only used meth at the end of her pregnancy. Her son had the highest levels of meth in his system of any baby born in Anoka County so far. Despite that, doctors expect the baby will develop normally.

Shelene Dumdei may get her kids back, that is if she stays sober. A judge ordered random drug tests. She's being watched closely, and she knows it. Dumdei has supervised visits with her two children. She's completed a 30-day treatment program and she has to follow a written sobriety plan.

SHELENE DUMDEI: Every day, I do meditations. I read their awesome, little affirmations and books that I have. I call my sponsor daily. I can't have any boredom. Boredom will lead to using.

CARA HETLAND: Dumdei works part-time at a furniture store and she's also going to church. She says every minute of every day, she fights her addiction. But she thinks she can beat it for herself and for her kids. Foster mom Terri Rehani is hopeful Shelene Dumdei will get her children back. Rehani takes the children to visit their mother. She also keeps Dumdei informed of school activities and medical appointments.

Now, for the last image of meth, the close-up of the people and children. Terri Rehani's foster home is a safe place. There's a yard filled with bikes, and swings, and toys. Inside, innocent blue eyes watch a visitor closely.

TERRI REHANI: Would you guys like to play with LEGOs or something?

CARA HETLAND: The dining room is a castle. A gray and pink plastic tower lines the wall. There are tubs of toys, books, dolls, and LEGOs. The three-month-old has a bottle. He is content to lay on a blanket and watch the other kids play.

This is Terri Rehani's picture of meth. The big picture doesn't really matter to her. The four children in her charge are her focus, but she knows there are more coming when these children leave.

While researchers continue to study the long-term effects meth is having on children, social workers, pediatricians, and even foster parents are taking care of the children one line at a time. Cara Hetland, Minnesota Public Radio, Anoka County.

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