For children of meth users, festival brings a little hope.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

People who know firsthand how methamphetamine use destroys families and traumatizes children took action Saturday, hosting the first Eugene Hope Festival to raise money to ease the way for children in foster care.

Cindra Madison of Eugene, who spearheaded the event, has been touched by the scourge of methamphetamine and its devastating effect on children. She's in the process of adopting a 2-year-old girl from a family member addicted to meth.

"Children of drug-addicted parents suffer a double trauma," Madison said. "They're pulled from their parents and everything in the home is destroyed in the case of meth labs."

Sponsored by the nonprofit Oregon Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, the event at Broadway Plaza in downtown Eugene featured music, kids' booths, raffles, a silent auction and information about foster children, many of whom have been separated from parents who are involved with methamphetamine and other drugs.

Proceeds from the Hope Festival will go to buying teddy bears for traumatized children, who often have to leave everything behind when they enter foster care. Older children will receive backpacks filled with school supplies.

Madison's friend Taunette Dixon came from Newport to participate in the Hope Festival. She's been raising her two teenage nephews full time since her sister, Tiffany Dorsey, died last year from methamphetamine-related complications at age 40, after a 10-year downward spiral caused by the drug.

Dorsey's drug addiction cost her a marriage, three children - grandparents care for her 2-year-old daughter - and ultimately, her life, 36-year-old Dixon said.

"This whole thing has just devastated my family," Dixon said.

Between drug binges, jail and an involuntary commitment to a drug treatment facility, Dorsey would see her children twice a year.

"She didn't stop loving them," Dixon said. "She stopped being a mother."

Near the plaza's northeast corner, Florence Blas, who recruits and trains foster parents for the state, fielded questions from passers-by during the festival. About 800 children were placed in foster care in Lane County last year, mostly from households with drug-addicted parents, Blas said.

The plague of methamphetamine has left small children fending for themselves while their parents scrounge for drugs.

"The parent has three things on their mind: getting drugs, using them and finding another place to get drugs," Blas said.

"Oftentimes, we find 6-year-olds preparing breakfast and making certain their 5-year-old sibling gets to school on the bus."

Children of parents involved in drugs can be affected in utero, often resulting in premature, low birth-weight babies with respiratory ailments and behavioral challenges, she said.

"It seems like their whole central nervous system is hypersensitive," Blas said.

After eight years with the state human services department and 31 years before that with private, nonprofit social service agencies, Blas said she remains undaunted.

"If we can make a difference with one child, it will have an exponential return," she said.

For information about the Eugene Hope Festival, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, visit www.eugenehopefest.org on the Internet or call 341-4567.