Widely respected and considered to be the leading McKenzie Friend for family matters, Shaun O’Connell over at Southern Family Aid has asked us to highlight an issue which may be a growing cause for concern within the family courts.
It seems that there is an increased use in the family justice system at the moment of hair strand testing of children, despite clear evidence which shows that these tests on their own can be unreliable. There is a good summary on this issue over at the McKenzie Blog, which mentions case law and precedent on the matter.
In the wake of DNA Testing firm Trimega Labs going bust due largely to the changes in legal aid which made the service unsustainable, it seems that other paternity, drug and alcohol testing companies are seeking to cash in on the potential to test children for the presence of drugs and alcohol in their system.
The trouble with this area is that hair strand testing in children is still a very new area, riddled with complications including the method in which these tests have to be carried out and the way in which the process might affect children generally.
Little is yet known about the extent of this practice. If you or your family, or anyone you know has been involved in hair strand testing of little ones, do let us know by posting below. If you would like to remain anonymous, you can either indicate that you would like your post not to be published (we hold all our comments before we publish them), or email us at Sobk13 at gmail dot com.
I am personally appalled at this, even the concept is unpalatable, this procedure could easily be abused and no doubts will be,
Simple scenario, Local Authority have a “Concern” drug use is an issue in a child’s home, however the Local Authority do not have the “Hard” evidence to take matters further, the Local Authority could easily have access to the child’s hair through various places schools et al and that in turn could be tested without the parents knowledge, I am almost certain that testing of children is a clear violation of the child’s rights and the impact would be very traumatizing indeed, I am hoping that the courts would frown and come down very hard on the use of such measures.
I will contact a few testing facilities and will see what their take on this is and whether they have a policy regarding the testing of minors, I will post accordingly the replies
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Hi jerry, if you’ve got the time and don’t mind sharing your findings, please come back and tell us what they say. It’s all very worrying.
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It oisn’t wquite that simple, hair strand testing in children would only be carried out if there is a strong suspicion that parents are GIVING drugs to the children (i.e not parents using around the children). There would have to be a court directive to allow this and then the test would have to be done in very controlled and supportive conditions (which would be part of the court directive)
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Thank you for your comments, Alison. Do you work inside the sector, at all? It would be very helpful to know if you work in this field and what your work involves. You sound as if you have experience in the field.
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Absolutely.
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Once there was the nit nurse that went around schools checking for fleas, I fear it won’t be long before mandatory checks of all sorts are made on kids in school. The government will dispense with any kind of permission as they will say it’s in the best interests of the child! The level of governmental intrusion on families have hit an all time high! One would think they have an agenda!
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Reblogged this on tummum's Blog.
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Surely this is an assault on the person ?.
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That’s an interesting point, Garry, thanks for your thought.
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I do not understand how people can say that in cases where there is a strong suspicion/concern that parents are using substances to placate their children, that it is a violation of their rights to test them for drugs! I have worked in the child protection field for twelve years and always try to work in partnership with parents to achieve change but sadly it is not always possible. I feel that we would not be doing our job properly if we ignored a worry that a parent was. ..for example. ..giving a child methadone. It happens. What do the parents or carers have to hide or do some bloggers think it is a parent’s ‘right’ to give a child harmful and unprescribed drugs because they can’t cope with them? My mind never ceases to boggle at some people’s really twisted thinking.
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Thank you for your thoughts Bella. Yes, I think where it is necessary testing must be done, but it must be done sensitively and in the most child friendly way possible.
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Wasn’t it reported that it was the middle classes drugging their kids on flights to subdue them?
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