With the start of a new law Friday requiring applicants for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program to test for drugs, a new rule will also require that anyone who fails, be reported to the state’s child abuse hotline.
The Tampa Tribune reported Tuesday on a June 24 memo in which the Department of Children and Families (DCF) directs staff to refer applicants who test positive to the abuse hotline for possible offer of services, or a possible investigation into the welfare of the child.
DCF officials told the Tribune that rule won’t mean that anyone who tests positive will lose their children, although DCF spokesman Joe Follick told the newspaper that a referral likely would trigger a visit to the applicants home by someone representing the agency, though not necessarily a child protection investigator.
“Our goal is always to keep families together, and give them the tools to stay together,” Follick told the Tribune.
Some child welfare advocates are critical, though.
“Caseworkers risk missing more children in real danger while they check out pot-smoking potential welfare recipients,” Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform in Virginia said in an e-mail to reporters.
