Contact: Melanie Moran, Vanderbilt Media Relations, 615-322-7970, melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu

NASHVILLE, Dec. 16 /Standard Newswire/ -- Vanderbilt University encourages active journalists to apply to attend its 2007 media fellowship, "Meth Rescue: Meth's Effects on Children, Families and the Foster Care System," April 24-27, 2007, in Nashville, Tenn.

Through interactions with professors and tours of a recovery center, the university's burn center and Nashville's drug court, journalists will have the opportunity to learn more about this complex problem and hear the stories that aren't being told.

In Tennessee, second in the nation for methamphetamine lab seizures in 2004 and 2005, over 2,000 children have flooded the foster care system because their parents were arrested for making and taking meth. Many states' already beleaguered foster care systems are being pushed past their limits as these children - with physical and mental scars as a result of being raised in meth labs - are taken from their homes and placed in state custody. In 2005, Tennessee joined other states in passing a law restricting the sale of the over-the-counter ingredients used to make meth and has seen dramatic results, providing new information about effective tools to battle the scourge of meth addiction and help families put the pieces back together again.

The fellowship is available to a limited number of print, broadcast and experienced freelance journalists. Vanderbilt will cover the costs of lodging and some meals. The participant's employer is responsible for travel expenses and salary during the fellowship.

The application deadline is Feb. 16, 2007. For more information and to apply, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/meth-rescue.