03/2024 Child Safety Hair Testing - Drugs

In both custody disputes (Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia - FCFCoA) and parental rights restoration cases (Children’s Court), courts may require individuals to undergo hair follicle testing for drugs and alcohol. These tests are often mandated based on various factors such as health records (e.g., prescriptions for medications used to treat alcoholism or admittance to rehabilitation programs) and criminal history (e.g., drug or alcohol-related offences).

Between June 2024 and September 2024, we received court orders for hair follicle testing from the following jurisdictions:

• Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia: Approximately 95% of the orders.

• Children's Court of New South Wales: Approximately 5% of the orders.

Key Results:

• 47.62% of the individuals tested were confirmed negative for drugs (including those who tested positive only for prescription medications).

• 52.38% of the individuals tested were confirmed positive for illicit drugs.

This marks the first time since we began conducting hair testing for court matters in 2021 that the percentage of positive tests has exceeded the negative results.

Unfortunately, the rise in positive cases also reveals that Methamphetamine has surged back to second place in terms of the most frequently detected substances.