DRUG TEST MIXUP LED TO CHILDREN BEING TAKEN AWAY

Nova Scotia’s community services minister has been asked to apologize to a woman who was left traumatized after two of her children were mistakenly taken away by Child Protective Services for four weeks. The woman’s case was raised in the legislature Friday by Progressive Conservative critic Barbara Adams. She said the two children — an infant and a seven-yearold — were apprehended in July after police acted on a report from the department that the woman had tested positive for illicit drugs. The woman had to submit to random drug testing, Adams said. The Community Services Department called the woman a week later to say there had been a mix-up. “The positive test belonged to someone else,” Adams said. However, it took another three weeks before the children were returned.