Stupid Drug Law and Kids

Over at Barf Stew, Rick has a post: Marijuana Bust - A Kid's Perspective.  This brought to mind something that happened to someone I knew years ago and still bothers me to this day -

Back in the early 1990s, I was managing a fast food restaurant.  Working for me was a wonderful 16 year old girl who I will call Katy.  Katy was smart, fun and most of the time happy.  She was also a great employee, always there on time and did a great job.  I soon came to learn from her that her parents were crack addicts and dealers (to support their habit).  There also seemed something odd between her and her stepfather, though she swore there wasn't.  As would be expected the police eventually raided their house.  Yes, that I had expected and them arresting the parents.  What I didn't expect was that they would arrest Katy too and send her to juvenile jail for months!

Here we had a situation where the authorities could have maybe helped a child, but they didn't.  Why?  Because there was some crack in her bedroom or something like that.  Actually, I think there were some sort of drugs (probably pot) in her purse.  Whatever it was, they in no way took into consideration the situation she was in.  It upset me then and it still upsets me because I will sometimes see a similar story on the news where a house was raided and adults and their children (teens) are arrested.  I don't understand why teens are arrested in these situations.  They are still minors and to my knowledge we don't arrest 5 year olds because their parents broke the law -- doesn't matter if there is crack hidden in their belongings.