A Georgia mom claims that she misplaced custody of her new child daughter as a result of defective drug assessments from a lab with a documented historical past of inaccurate outcomes. When a drug court docket and her OB-GYN ran assessments on Kristen Clark-Hassell, her outcomes had been clear. However the assessments from Georgia’s Division of Household and Kids Providers (DFCS) got here again optimistic, and so the federal government took her youngest little one.
“They actually took her off my breast within the hallway together with her screaming after the court docket listening to,” Clark-Hassell informed the Savannah-based outlet The Present. “For her to simply be ripped like that simply reduce a gap in our hearts.”
In a 2021 whistleblower grievance, a former lab director for Avertest—the corporate that processed Clark-Hassell’s drug assessments—claimed that as many as 30 % of the lab’s take a look at outcomes had been inaccurate. She additional alleged that “assembly deadlines for take a look at outcomes is extra vital to Avertest than accuracy” and that the corporate manipulated knowledge and set arbitrary detection cutoffs, rising false positives. Avertest settled the Justice Division lawsuit relating to those claims in 2024, paying a $1.3 million settlement.
Clark-Hassell’s authorized battle started with a DFCS-ordered Avertest drug screening in 2020. In line with paperwork obtained by The Present, that take a look at was taken on August 5, and it got here again optimistic. Then a take a look at from her OB-GYN taken on August 11 was damaging. In September, a court-ordered drug take a look at got here again damaging, however the DFCS ordered one other spherical of testing in October. That point, her urine pattern got here again clear, however her hair follicle take a look at was optimistic—elevating severe issues concerning the reliability of the outcomes. Whereas it is nonetheless potential that the sporadic positives Clark-Hassell skilled had been the results of drug use, this actual circumstance is why correct testing issues when deciding whether or not or to not take the drastic step of eradicating youngsters from their dad and mom’ care.
Clark-Hassell’s case shouldn’t be distinctive. Final 12 months, The Marshall Mission printed two investigations revealing that CPS eliminated youngsters based mostly on unreliable drug assessments. Some moms examined optimistic after consuming over-the-counter medicine or poppy seeds. In different circumstances, hospitals reported ladies for testing optimistic for medicine that got to them throughout labor.
Separating children from their dad and mom may be devastating. To do it on the idea of a doubtful take a look at result’s even worse.
