Children mistakenly taken from their mother because of drug-test mix-up: Tories

To ensure the children’s welfare, the woman had to submit to random drug testing because she had a previous history of illicit drug use, Adams said.

The Community Services Department called the woman a week later to confirm there had been a mix-up, she said.

“The positive test belonged to someone else,” Adams said.

However, it took another three weeks before the children were returned home.

“When the province removes children from a family, they have to have more than bad data,” she said. “(The department) has yet to issue an apology to the family, and have not reimbursed the family for their legal fees.”

Glenn Friel of the Community Services Department suggested in an email late Friday that other factors were involved in the decision.

“Drug testing would be only one of many sources of information that would be considered in making a decision to bring a child in to care. There is never a reliance on only one piece of information,” he said.

He said all efforts are made to keep “the integrity of the family” before children are taken into care.

In the legislature earlier in the day, Adams asked if Community Services Minister Kelly Regan would apologize to the family for the mix-up.

Regan said she could not speak about individual cases, but she assured Adams that her department would look into the case.

Outside the legislature, Adams said the children weren’t returned to the woman until after the politician called the department to determine what was going on.

She said she wants the department to adopt policies to ensure this kind of mistake doesn’t happen again.

“This is somebody who has her life together and is moving forward with the support of her family — and they were invaded like a SWAT team,” Adams said. “It left a horrible fear in them that this could happen to others.”

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Children mistakenly taken from their mother because of drug-test mix-up: Tories

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