Mother has four-year-old son taken from her after failing drug test taken from strand of hair

Child put up for adoption as 'heartbroken' mother insists she does not use drugs anymore

Brian Farmer,Conrad Duncan
Sunday 20 January 2019 21:07 GMT
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The woman lost an appeal to keep her son despite one judge questioning the validity of the hair-strand test
The woman lost an appeal to keep her son despite one judge questioning the validity of the hair-strand test

A mother has been forced to give up her four-year-old son after failing a hair-strand drug test and losing a controversial court battle over his care.

Social workers sparked a three-year-long family court case when they raised concerns over the mother’s history of drug misuse.

A family court judge ruled the boy should be placed for adoption after lawyers said a drug test taken from a strand of the woman's hair had proved positive.

The boy has now been adopted and his mother has said goodbye to him.

The woman, who is in her 30s and lives in London, said she was "heartbroken" by the ruling and mounted an appeal, insisting she was no longer a regular drug user.

Court of Appeal judges said a High Court judge should review the case after concerns were raised about the validity of the hair-strand drug test.

One appeal judge, Lady Justice King, said the woman had been co-operating with social services staff.

She said the woman had been randomly drug tested more than 40 times and all results were clear bar one, which was positive.

Lady Justice King said she was concerned good practice had not been followed when the hair-strand test was carried out.

A High Court judge again ruled the boy should be placed for adoption after reviewing evidence at a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

A senior barrister who represented the woman had also raised concern about the hair-strand test.

Sarah Morgan QC argued the hair-strand test alone could not confirm drug use.

Mr Justice Hayden said experts had told him "laboratory procedures" were "unimpeachable".

The woman's only contact with her son will be through occasional letters.

"What's happened is not right," she said.

"If a jury of my peers had heard of the evidence rather than a judge, there is no way they would have concluded that I am not now capable of caring for him.

"I have stopped taking drugs. I have been to rehab. I used to have a problem but my life has been transformed. The hair-strand test was wrong."

She added: "I am devastated. Heartbroken beyond words. What will he think when he grows up and wants to know why he was adopted?

"It certainly wasn't because his mother didn't love him."

Press Association

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