More children are showing up in foster home because of meth. Photo / File
Children are growing up "severely traumatised" in chaos, violence, poverty and neglect due to meth, a Tauranga foster home leader says.
Of the children coming through Homes of Hope Charitable Trust's doors, about 70 per cent are there because of meth, the trust's chief executive Hilary Price says.
The foster home needed to drop the number of children it can care for at a given time from 16 to 10 with "severe" behavioural issues as a result of meth.
About half of the reports to Oranga Tamariki involved P while a regional police inspector said the drug was "absolutely horrendous" and "ruining lives".
Price, who is also the trust's founder and a social worker, said the prevalence of meth has been rising since the home first opened in 2003.
Being around the drug showed up in symptoms such as ADHD, sensory processing disorders, and developmental delays.
This was due to the trauma, abuse, and neglect they've been exposed to in the households, with children growing up around domestic violence and chaos with no routines.
Children often went without basics as money was used on drugs.
Price said it was "shocking" to see how things like pipes and bongs were normalised among some children, with older children joking about them, and two siblings even making a 3D version of one in a playroom.
However, the effects on brain development were more alarming with the most "devastating" being on those exposed in utero, she said.
Price said the children came from "very hard places" and time was crucial to give them a chance to flourish.
Community generosity recently helped the trust open a new house, meaning it can home up to six more children.
Communications and funding manager Pam French said the trust was asked to care for 29 children last year, but could take in only eight new kids.
"There's a lot more P, a lot more issues around that."
"Our services are desperately needed ... the work we do with children has a trickle-down effect for generations."
The home kept brothers and sisters together and provided wrap-around care around the children, house parents, and caregivers. It had an 81 per cent success rate of children transitioning to new homes.
About 280 children, aged from babies to 12, had come through Homes of Hope's door since 2003.
Children usually stayed for one to five years, with many "severely traumatised" when they first arrived, she said.
They received therapy through individual care plans and "just have time to be children which often can be the first time in their young lives".
It cost about $60,000 a year to care for a child at Homes of Hope. According to Corrections data, it cost $140,000 a year for someone in prison.
"We believe it is far cheaper to raise a child than to repair an adult," French said.
Mount Maunganui GP Tony Farrell is a specialist in treating addiction.
He said as well as the direct and indirect harm caused by meth use, parents taking illicit drugs around children increased the risk of them trying it one day.
However, Farrell said it was important to acknowledge that not all users harmed their kids in any way - this depended on the pattern of use, the dose taken, and any associated mental health or social problems.
And only about 20 per cent of users were addicted.
He said the effects meth would have on a child depended on the dose, and high doses were toxic to the heart and could cause serious kidney damage.
The drug has been prescribed at low doses to children for ADHD, however, most users took about 20 times that dose, he said.
Children could accidentally take it, be exposed to substances from either using around them or manufacturing.
A high dose for a child could make them unwell with a very fast heart rate, agitation, feverishness, disorientation, anxiety, or even a coma, he said.
Babies were three times more likely to be born small for their age, and twice as likely to be premature if their mother used while pregnant.
Oranga Tamariki Bay of Plenty regional manager Tasi Malu said the across the country, there were about 10 calls of concern per hour and half of them were related to meth.
He said the organisation and community caregivers worked with tamariki who have come from "very dysfunctional, very damaged homes".
However, "just because a parent or caregiver is using, doesn't automatically mean they're unable to care".
Oranga Tamariki worked out how meth use impacted their ability to parent, with their default to keep children in their own home, and look to wider family and whānau when this was not possible.
"When we take tamariki into care, I think a lot of people miss the fact that these children coming in are quite damaged by meth, alcohol."
An Oranga Tamariki spokeswoman said the children came from all walks of life.
Many homes impacted by meth were marked by financial hardship, substance dependence, violence, and parents having mental and emotional unwellness.
"Also, in a few cases, children and young people live in transient environments where their parents struggle to find housing."
The Bay of Plenty had one of the worst recorded methamphetamine use per capita in the country, with about 860mg used per day, exceeding the national average.
The latest findings from the New Zealand Police wastewater drug testing programme reveal the average daily drug use per 1000 people between October and December last year.
This has gone up by more than 200mg a day when compared to the same period the year before.
Bay of Plenty District Prevention manager Inspector Steve Bullock said P was an "absolutely horrendous drug and is ruining lives".
Police make a decision based on public interest whether to prosecute or to consider a health-centred or therapeutic approach.
Bullock said a joint community and government approach was needed, with a focus on prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement.
Anyone with information about drug offending is urged to contact police by phoning 105, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Anyone affected by drug addiction can seek help through the Alcohol and Drug Helpline on 0800 787 797, or free text 8681.ish.
People aged 60-plus accounted for 55% of all house fire deaths over the past 5 years.