Discredited alcohol, drug testing program harmed families: report
Motherisk used in Ontario child welfare cases
TORONTO • A review of more than 1,200 child welfare cases spanning 25 years has found that a now- discredited hair analysis program in Toronto that tested for drug and alcohol use caused extensive — and potentially irreversible — harm to vulnerable families across Ontario.
An independent commission tasked with examining the Motherisk hair- testing program says the child welfare system’s reliance on the analysis was “manifestly unfair and harmful” even when it did not substantially affect the outcome of cases.
The commission led by provincial court judge Judith Beaman says the tests were imposed by children’s aid societies on poor and other- wise vulnerable families and given excessive weight by the organizations and the courts.
Beaman says the tests had a significant impact on the outcome of 56 cases and seven of those families have obtained legal remedies, with four cases involving children being returned to their parents’ care.
The commission was convened two years ago after another report found the Motherisk program run by Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children fell short of international forensic standards for use in child protection and criminal proceedings, and said the lab “frequently misinterpreted” test results.
Children’s aid societies were directed in 2015 to stop using the Motherisk tests and the hospital shut down the program after apologizing for the issues.
But the tests had already been used in thousands of child- protection and criminal cases, and the program came under scrutiny after an appeal court decision high- lighted differing expert opinions about a particular hairtesting method previously used by Motherisk.
“The discovery that unreliable test results were used as part of expert evidence in child protection proceedings for so many years undermines the public’s confidence in the fairness of our justice system, particularly with respect to how it treats vulnerable people,” Beaman said in the report released Monday.
“The testing was imposed on people who were among the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, with scant regard for due process or their rights to privacy and bodily integrity. Many people experienced t he t esting, particularly when it was done repeatedly, as intrusive and stigmatizing.”
Children’s aid societies and courts often drew negative inferences about parents who didn’t submit to testing or who disputed the results, she said.
The tests were often used as a proxy for assessing parenting and the results were regularly admitted into evidence without the usual checks and balances, she said.
The review looked at cases between 1990 and 2015 involving Motherisk and in which children were permanently removed from their families.
In the 56 cases where the tests had a significant impact on the outcome, “families were broken apart and relationships among children, siblings, parents, and extended families and communities were damaged or lost,” Beaman said.
Those families were given referrals to l awyers and mediation paid for by the commission, but their legal options depended on the stage of the case, she said.
“The laws and rules place limits on the ability of biological parents and other family members to appeal or challenge final orders about children,” she said.
“Even where an appeal or challenge is possible, the court may decide that it is not in the child’s best interest to alter their living or access arrangements. This means that even where the discredited Motherisk testing substantially affected the outcome of cases, the families will likely have difficulty bringing about a change in the children’s situation.”
The Motherisk saga has shown that the child protection and court systems must be more careful in how they use expert evidence, and that more supports are needed for families and communities, she said.
The commissioner issued 32 recommendations “as steps toward ensuring that no family experience similar harm in the future.”
They include changes to legislation and rules on the use of expert evidence and on strengthening parent representation during child protection proceedings, more education for judges, the creation of family- inclusive substance abuse treatment programs and measures to address racism in the child welfare system.
She also recommends extending free counselling services to the affected families for three years on top of the two they have already been offered.