LisaMarieCom
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Alabama
I'm dealing with DHR because my teenage son got into some trouble & was experimenting with drugs. They have myself & my boyfriend doing random drug tests because of this. The first screening we had, we were called by DHR to give us our results. After she gave my results to me, she asked to speak with my boyfriend about his. I assumed this was for confidentiality purposes.
Well, the next time we tested, we did not receive a phone call. The results were told at a meeting with DHR in front of my mother, my son, and my son's probation officer.
My boyfriend was not present for this meeting, but they still told me his results without him there. He was clean, but I was surprised they gave this information without him there. She then told everyone that my results were positive. I was shocked because I'm clean.
Then a week later, our new case worker came to our home for a visit. He informed my boyfriend & myself that she had given incorrect results in front of everyone. I was indeed clean, like I knew I was. He simply apologized for her mistake & that was it. There was no mention of letting anyone else there know the real results. I have of course called my son's probation officer to let him know their mistake as well as my mother & son who were there.
It was embarrassing & I'm upset that no other action was taken to right the situation.
I would like to know if she was violating confidentiality in the first place by discussing results of my boyfriend's screening without him present. There is no court order for our testing, we are simply doing it to make things easier with this situation. I feel like I should get a lawyer at this point though, because I've been reading many horror stories about DHR trying to take your child away at any cost. They want us to enroll in a drug treatment program as well even though we have tested clean. I'm afraid this will make us look like we are admitting to having a problem we obviously don't. Should I seek legal help before continuing to play their games? Not to mention the money this will cost us to take unnecessary drug treatment classes.
There's also a number of other issues we have had since this ordeal began with them not following proper protocol.
Alabama
I'm dealing with DHR because my teenage son got into some trouble & was experimenting with drugs. They have myself & my boyfriend doing random drug tests because of this. The first screening we had, we were called by DHR to give us our results. After she gave my results to me, she asked to speak with my boyfriend about his. I assumed this was for confidentiality purposes.
Well, the next time we tested, we did not receive a phone call. The results were told at a meeting with DHR in front of my mother, my son, and my son's probation officer.
My boyfriend was not present for this meeting, but they still told me his results without him there. He was clean, but I was surprised they gave this information without him there. She then told everyone that my results were positive. I was shocked because I'm clean.
Then a week later, our new case worker came to our home for a visit. He informed my boyfriend & myself that she had given incorrect results in front of everyone. I was indeed clean, like I knew I was. He simply apologized for her mistake & that was it. There was no mention of letting anyone else there know the real results. I have of course called my son's probation officer to let him know their mistake as well as my mother & son who were there.
It was embarrassing & I'm upset that no other action was taken to right the situation.
I would like to know if she was violating confidentiality in the first place by discussing results of my boyfriend's screening without him present. There is no court order for our testing, we are simply doing it to make things easier with this situation. I feel like I should get a lawyer at this point though, because I've been reading many horror stories about DHR trying to take your child away at any cost. They want us to enroll in a drug treatment program as well even though we have tested clean. I'm afraid this will make us look like we are admitting to having a problem we obviously don't. Should I seek legal help before continuing to play their games? Not to mention the money this will cost us to take unnecessary drug treatment classes.
There's also a number of other issues we have had since this ordeal began with them not following proper protocol.