SHOULD YOU DRUG TEST IN YOUR CPS CASE!

 DRUG TEST IN YOUR CPS CASE!

Should you drug test in your CPS case? My name is Vince Davis. I'm an attorney in California and I'm an expert in CPS and DCFS cases here in California. Come with me while I explain this topic about drug testing. You know the first thing I want to tell you is generally at least in LA County, judges order you to a drug test at the detention hearing and neither you nor your attorney objects to that.

Well, the simple fact of the matter is the judge does not have the power to order you to drug test until after the disposition hearing. I see it happen almost every day in drug-related cases or alcohol-related cases. Now sometimes it's beneficial for you to test but you want to put on the record that you are not ordered to a drug test. Here's the reason why. Generally, in LA County and in most counties in California, if you miss a test, it's counted as a dirty test even sometimes if you have a legitimate reason not to test.

So what I would suggest is that you tell your lawyer that they should object to a court order regarding drug testing before the dispositional hearing. It's a whole nother story after the dispositional hearing. So the reason why that's important, they can make the drug testing available to you. Now, I want to be honest with, you if there are allegations that you have a drug issue and that prevents you from getting your child, you probably want a drug test. But there's a difference between court-ordered drug testing and drug testing through the social worker because they just make it available to you but you're not court-ordered.

So, in my opinion, they can't say that if you miss a test that it's a dirty test. The other thing I want to tell you about drug testing is it's not 100% accurate. There are false positives and there are false negatives. And the scientific data says that the false positives and negatives are anywhere from 3% to 5% depending on a lot of different things that happened within the laboratory. Now if you test positive and you swear that you are not dirty, there is a long procedure that can be used for you to demand a retest.

You can talk to your attorney about that. But in some cases I've been involved in, when there was a retest for a positive drug screen, the result came back negative. It was an error and there are built-in errors in any scientific situation. If you have questions about how to challenge a drug test, please give me a call and we'll discuss and I'll tell you how you can legally challenge a drug test if you believe that it is a false positive. So my camera person and producer asked me this question, "Is there a particular code section which says the court can't order drug testing before the dispositional hearing?" And here's the answer, until the dispositional hearing, the court hasn't taken jurisdiction over you and the child. Therefore, it can't make orders to make you do something before the court takes jurisdiction over you.

I recently was in LA County and a judge ordered that my client drug test weekly. I politely objected and told the court that the court didn't have jurisdiction to order the drug test. The court thought about it and said, "You know, you're right, Mr. Davis, I'm going to order the department to provide him drug testing if he wants to drug test." There was another issue that was raised in that same case. The court ordered my client to do hair follicle drug testing and I objected to that. In California, itis unconstitutional for the court to require you to do hair follicle or blood testing at any time especially if it's not going to be beneficial to you. Make sure that you and your attorney object to the hair follicle testing order by any judge or request by any social worker. You know you're probably watching this because you have questions about drug testing in a CPS case; I answer questions like this every day. If you have a question, give me a call for a free consultation, 888-888-6582, that's 888-888-6582. And to keep this channel going, please like this video and subscribe. We'll see you in the next video. Our staff speaks the following languages: English Se Habla Español Мы Говорим по-Русски Chinese Vietnamese Free consultation, Flexible appointments http://www.fightchildprotectiveservic..., Chat with us online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Offices near you in the following Counties: Los Angeles Orange San Bernardino Riverside Law Offices Of Vincent W. Davis & Associates 150 N Santa Anita Ave, Ste 200 Arcadia, CA 91006 (888) 888-6582 (ph.) #VinceDavis, #FightCPS, #CALawyer, *********************************************** Related Tags: ************* Lawyer, court, attorney, legal, litigation, solicitor, law, prosecutor, statutory, common law, barrister, counsel, sister in law, Harvard law school, law school, family law, lawsuit, civil law, free legal advice, law firm, law dictionary, international law, legal advice, law firms, case law