Imagine you’re completely sober. No drugs. No alcohol. Nothing. The state gives you a drug test. And the test says you’re using. Now imagine that one result is the reason your children are taken from you. That’s not just a thought experiment. In Michigan, a forensic drug testing company that ran tests for Children’s Protective Services agreed to pay more than $1.3 million to settle federal False Claims Act allegations. A whistleblower had alleged an inaccuracy rate of about 30 percent. Nearly one in three results, possibly wrong.

This is the Father’s Advocacy Network podcast. I’m Adam Neuerburg. Today we’re exposing how child welfare agencies are using drug tests that may be wrong, from labs with documented credibility problems, often with no confirmation at all, to take children from their parents. Mothers and fathers who were sober, and could prove it, still losing their kids. Let’s get into it.

First, why this matters so much. According to the figures in our report, 23 percent of foster care entries are linked to allegations of parental drug use. Almost a quarter. So the drug test isn’t some side issue. For a huge number of families, it’s the whole case. And the system is treating it like gospel. Here’s the Michigan story in full. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Avertest, doing business as Averhealth, agreed to pay $1,344,621 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. Those allegations centered on drug tests submitted to Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services for use in Children’s Protective Services and foster care. A 2021 whistleblower complaint alleged that roughly 30 percent inaccuracy rate at the lab. And according to our report, despite that settlement, Averhealth still operates drug testing programs in multiple states. Let that sink in. If a company’s results are alleged to be wrong nearly a third of the time, how many parents sat in a courtroom while a judge treated one of those results as fact? How many children spent nights in foster care because of a number on a lab sheet?

Now Georgia. An Atlanta News First investigation called Stolen Sobriety found that the two labs contracted to do drug screens for Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services have documented credibility issues. And yet families’ custody cases hinge on their results. One of those parents is Elisa Trantham. She’s a paramedic. According to the investigation, she had her children removed after a state-administered hair test showed multiple drugs. Then she got independent testing. And it completely contradicted the state’s results. She wasn’t alone. Multiple families, including seniors and children, reported positive methamphetamine results in custody cases, while providing independent negative tests showing the state results were likely false. Seniors. Children. Testing positive for meth. Does anyone in that agency stop and ask whether the problem might be the lab? The investigation also revealed subcontracted labs that don’t perform the specialized confirmatory testing you need to tell legal medications apart from illegal drugs. And it’s not just Georgia. In Texas, according to our report, CPS routinely asks parents to take drug tests at the start of every investigation, whether there are drug allegations or not. That’s a dragnet. Texas policy itself separates a drug screen, which is preliminary and not court-admissible, from a drug test, which is lab-confirmed. But caseworkers frequently treat the unconfirmed screen as definitive evidence for removal. Their own policy says the screen isn’t proof. They treat it like proof anyway.

So how does a sober parent fail a drug test? The science the system ignores is not complicated. One. Hair tests can’t tell the difference between using a drug and being exposed to it. According to the report, secondhand smoke, contaminated surfaces, even living near drug activity can produce a positive. Two. Hair color. Research shows darker hair binds drugs at significantly higher levels than lighter hair. The report notes that the federal agency known as SAMHSA itself acknowledges this bias. That means Black and Hispanic parents are hit harder by false positives. Three. Ordinary things. The report lists cold medicine, antacids like Zantac, ibuprofen, and even poppy seed bagels as things that can trigger false positives for opiates, amphetamines or other controlled substances. Four. No confirmation. Many agencies use a quick preliminary screen called an immunoassay, which is known for high false positive rates, and never send the result for confirmatory lab testing called GC-MS. And five. No federal rules. SAMHSA doesn’t currently regulate hair follicle testing. There are no federal standards for how the hair is collected, processed or interpreted. Zero federal regulations. And yet courts treat those results as definitive.

So picture what should happen. A screen is just a first indicator. Every positive goes to a certified lab for confirmation. A medical review officer checks for legal medications. Results get verified before anyone touches custody. Parents get a chance to test independently. Now here’s what our report says actually happens. The preliminary screen is treated as proof. It isn’t confirmed, or it’s sent to a lab without proper permits. Nobody reviews it for legal medications. Children are removed before the result is verified. And independent tests that contradict the state are ignored or dismissed.

Our report describes one case that shows how far this can go. Child protection officials alleged that a mother and her daughter failed a drug screen. Through discovery, that screen was later revealed to be incomplete, unofficial, and performed by a laboratory that wasn’t permitted to conduct high-complexity testing. Based on those unverified results, according to the report, the agency seized the children from another state, without a warrant and without judicial authority under the interstate custody law that’s supposed to govern exactly that situation. The family is still fighting in court to challenge results that should never have been used as evidence.

And this is the heart of it. In criminal court, you’re innocent until proven guilty. In a CPS case, a positive drug test, even an unconfirmed screen, flips the burden onto the parent. You have to prove your innocence while your children sit in state custody. And even if you do prove it, the damage is done. By the time you can challenge the result, your kids may have been in foster care for weeks or months. Many agencies refuse to accept outside tests. Sober parents get pushed into treatment programs, random testing and extended supervision, over a result that may have come from a poppy seed bagel. And if you can’t afford independent testing or a private attorney? You’re trapped. That’s not child protection. That’s a system built to punish families before the facts are in.

So what would fix it? Not money. Rules with teeth. Our report lays out four. No custody action, ever, based on a preliminary screen alone. Every positive confirmed by GC-MS at a certified lab first. Real federal standards for hair testing, including how to handle contamination and racial bias. Regular independent audits of state-contracted labs, and no more contracts with labs that have been the subject of Justice Department settlements or documented credibility concerns. And the right to challenge a result before your children are removed. Not after, when the damage is already done.

So what do you do if a drug test is being used against you? This isn’t legal advice. FAN is not a law firm. But these steps come straight out of what this research shows. One. Write down every medication you take, prescription and over-the-counter, and even foods like poppy seeds, with dates. Keep the bottles and receipts. Make sure your attorney has that list. Two. Ask, in writing, whether your result was a preliminary screen or a lab-confirmed test. Ask whether it was confirmed by GC-MS, which lab did it, and whether a medical review officer looked at it. Three. Request the actual lab report and records, not just a caseworker’s summary of them. Four. Gather your own evidence. Talk to your attorney about independent testing, and keep every result in a file with dates. Five. Get names. Your caseworker, their supervisor, and the lab. And put every request to your attorney in writing, including any request to challenge the test. And six. You don’t have to do this alone. Go to fathers advocacy network dot com slash case help.

The full research report, with the Department of Justice announcement and the Stolen Sobriety investigation, is at fathers advocacy network dot com, in our foster care research section. If this episode shook you, share it with one parent who’s been told a drug test is the final word. It isn’t. And follow the show so you don’t miss what we expose next. I’m Adam Neuerburg. This is the Father’s Advocacy Network. Let the silenced speak.