Georgia’s child welfare agency, tasked with protecting children from mistreatment, contracted with a company to drug test parents and produce results that were crucial to decisions on custody. With support from the Fund, Jake Shore with The Current GA found that the state’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) learned that the company’s laboratory was under federal investigation for allegations of inaccurate testing, yet did not take action on its contract for more than a year. Thousands of parents potentially impacted were never notified by DFCS, nor did the agency conduct an audit after learning about the testing allegations, The Current GA reported. In response to the reporting, the head of DFCS said she is open to an audit of past tests – but it’s too late for some parents and families.
Grantee finds that Georgia agency relied on controversial lab for drug tests in custody decisions; story prompts agency head to consider audit
