Post by robferguson on Aug 12, 2008 2:16:15 GMT -5
Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:10 am Post subject: Drug Testing
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This has always been a touchy area. Some would argue that addiction is a disability; this is why most addiction services are combined with mental health services. Does the CFSA allow for the direct violation of parents rights? I would certainly support the idea if a parents addiction impaired the parenting ability then it could have some merit in court. However where is the line between doing right for the CFSA and doing right for the family? A few years back I had the chance to ask one home drug testing agency a few questions by the name of OSAD. They were asked what is the percent of their business that was made up by CAS cases. The answer was 90 percent of the business was from CAS. Then I asked how much a collection was, and the answer to that question was about 1000.00 per collection. Then I asked what they got paid per collection, their answer was to refuse to answer and hung up the phone. Made me really think that these agencies are supposed to detect issues, at the same time be fair to the persons that they are testing. CAS around Ontario since then has refused to use OSAD. I have learned today that a new sub contract agency is doing alot of drug testing in Ontario by the name of Bayshore health Care. But what is the problem; there are many issues that should be looked at. First Bayshore does not have a lab to do these tests rather they farm it out. Where do they do these test I bet you are asking but through sick kids in Toronto. It is common public knowledge that CAS supports sick kids and vise versa. There is a clear conflict here but that does not surprise me when looking at assessments done by CAS. Another element that has to be looked at is the collector used by this agency are RN's who are used to being personal support workers with no real training in drug detection. I have seen in a recent case where the collector took hair samples and placed them on a non sterile table. This I do believe may contaminate all results. So it is my opinion that not only are these agencies being overpaid but the people who are taking the samples are not qualified to do this task. I can not imagine a parent loosing their child because of an assessment being done completely wrong. My advice to parents who are or have been accused of drug abuse is to get their own drug testing done to protect yourself. Most agencies’ offer testing to the public, you can also get testing done at any hospital. Keep a detailed log of all drug testing that you have done and do it randomly on yourself. Always keep your results. My final recommendation is ask questions to the agency doing both your private and CAS funded tests. Remember to get everything in writing
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This has always been a touchy area. Some would argue that addiction is a disability; this is why most addiction services are combined with mental health services. Does the CFSA allow for the direct violation of parents rights? I would certainly support the idea if a parents addiction impaired the parenting ability then it could have some merit in court. However where is the line between doing right for the CFSA and doing right for the family? A few years back I had the chance to ask one home drug testing agency a few questions by the name of OSAD. They were asked what is the percent of their business that was made up by CAS cases. The answer was 90 percent of the business was from CAS. Then I asked how much a collection was, and the answer to that question was about 1000.00 per collection. Then I asked what they got paid per collection, their answer was to refuse to answer and hung up the phone. Made me really think that these agencies are supposed to detect issues, at the same time be fair to the persons that they are testing. CAS around Ontario since then has refused to use OSAD. I have learned today that a new sub contract agency is doing alot of drug testing in Ontario by the name of Bayshore health Care. But what is the problem; there are many issues that should be looked at. First Bayshore does not have a lab to do these tests rather they farm it out. Where do they do these test I bet you are asking but through sick kids in Toronto. It is common public knowledge that CAS supports sick kids and vise versa. There is a clear conflict here but that does not surprise me when looking at assessments done by CAS. Another element that has to be looked at is the collector used by this agency are RN's who are used to being personal support workers with no real training in drug detection. I have seen in a recent case where the collector took hair samples and placed them on a non sterile table. This I do believe may contaminate all results. So it is my opinion that not only are these agencies being overpaid but the people who are taking the samples are not qualified to do this task. I can not imagine a parent loosing their child because of an assessment being done completely wrong. My advice to parents who are or have been accused of drug abuse is to get their own drug testing done to protect yourself. Most agencies’ offer testing to the public, you can also get testing done at any hospital. Keep a detailed log of all drug testing that you have done and do it randomly on yourself. Always keep your results. My final recommendation is ask questions to the agency doing both your private and CAS funded tests. Remember to get everything in writing