Re: Drug Testing in Child Protection Cases

[Ingrid Gibbons <igibbons@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,
I am a supervisor with Children's Protective Service in Austin, Texas.  We do use
drug testing on a very regular basis.  We get around clients using other people's
urine by watching them during the test.  The urine recepticals also have a
temprature gauge and we register the temp. of the urine.  Believe me, this is part
of the job that no one likes, but since we have started using these drug tests they
have been very effective as tools for confrontation.  I believe that clients that
are so entrenched in denial, once faced with the facts of the positive tests often
finally admit to their addiction.  Also, if the case goes to termination, the
positive drug screens are very effective pieces of evidence.  In the past, we also
relied on the drug screens from parole or probation but we found those to be
unreliable given that drug tests from probation and parole occur, on the average,
once a month.  Our county pays about $17 dollars a test.  We used to pay about $25
but a lab came to us with a better offer.
That's about it.

Have a nice day,

Ingrid Gibbons, MSSW
Children's Protective Services Supervisor
Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services

Betty Surbeck wrote:

> At our child welfare agency we do not do drug testing although the probation
> department does and we often subpoena their records and use their results in
> our judication proceedings. Our county D/A agency does not beleive they are
> effective way to detect addiction and current use. This is probably a very
> debatable issue. Our workers do not want to do drug screening and we do not
> have the resources to do them effectively. There are so many different ways to
> cheat that it is a diffcult area to proscribe. Parents routinely use their
> children's urine or their children's friend urine and this can put the child in
> a dfficult position.
>         In fact because drug use is so high in our area most babies that are
> born positive for drugs are not opened, it depends on what supports and
> resources are available to ensure the child's safety. Once a case is opened
> though we do use drug screens as indicators of progress before the child is
> returned if available through probation or other sources. We also sometimes
> write in the court recommendations that the parent is not to be the sole
> caregivers for a chld while under the influence of an intoxicating substance.
> This works when the parent beleives that we will know about it or have the
> power to do something, ie remove a child. It does not work if the parent does
> not want a child and parents have been know to refuse treatment because they
> did not want the responsibility of a child, mostly adolescents. I would like to
> hear maor on this topic. I think at least 80% of our client population have
> drug problems that interfer with the care of their children.