Child Protection Department orders fewer drug tests on parents

Drug testing has revealed the number of parents putting their kids at risk – and prompted a warning from the state’s Child Protection Minister.

Children should not be left with parents who are using methamphetamine and a positive test result “must prompt action”, Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard says.

Speaking exclusively to The Advertiser, Ms Hildyard said meth use created “a very unsafe environment” for a child and it was “greatly worrying” that children would be left with parents known to be using the illicit drug.

Her comments come as figures released by the Child Protection Department show hundreds of parents are repeatedly being caught using drugs, most commonly amphetamines and cannabis.

This week The Advertiser has reported the case of two-year-old Jimmy* who was hospitalised after suffering severe burns and bruising, and doctors found meth in his urine.

In a separate case, a 52-year-old man faced court after allegedly supplying meth to a 14-year-old girl in state care.

Child Protection Department figures show 624 parents were tested for drugs and alcohol last financial year and 284 returned more than one positive result.

Child protection minister Katrine Hildyard. Picture: Emma Brasier.

Little Jimmy.

About one in 10 of the drug screenings came back positive, including for cannabinoids (36 per cent) and amphetamines (13 per cent).

However, the total number of screenings fell from about 26,300 in 2020-21 to 19,500 in 2021-22.

Ms Hildyard said it was “utterly unacceptable and alarming to find that there are children in homes that are unsafe because meth is being used in their homes”.

“I think most people would agree that of course we need to be not leaving children in that sort of unsafe environment,” she said.

“A positive test on meth use is highly alarming and it must prompt action.

“I don’t think any child should be in those situations.”

The grandmother of Jimmy, Dennise Shepherd, said parents who put their children at risk by abusing drugs should be tested regularly and have to remain clean for six months before they could resume contact with their children.

“While you’re on drugs you’re not thinking clearly, you’re not functioning properly, it impairs their ability to properly look after children,” she said.

The Child Protection Department has not said what happens in cases where a parent returns a positive drug test, only that it “may determine … that a parent needs to undertake regular drug and alcohol testing to determine if they require support to address the substance abuse issue.”

In a wide-ranging interview with The Advertiser Ms Hildyard said she understood public despair and frustration at the harm against children which had surfaced in recent weeks.

“It is absolutely devastating … and it has to be turned into action,” she said.

Asked if she believed department chief executive Cathy Taylor should be removed from her post, Ms Hildyard said she would wait to receive the findings of several ongoing reviews.

“I do support Cathy in that role,” she said.

“We will need to look closely at the outcomes from those reviews to understand performance.”

Ms Hildyard rejected calls from the Opposition to drop other portfolios she holds, including Recreation, Sport and Racing and Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence.