DRUG ADDICTS MAY LOSE CHILDREN

DRUG-addicted parents would lose their kids for good under a plan to
protect children from a life of misery.

A federal parliamentary inquiry said adoption should become the
"default option" for children up to five whose parents were drug users.

The inquiry heard horrific evidence of children dying, going without
food, missing school and being forced to look after siblings because
of addicted parents.

Inquiry head Bronwyn Bishop said children were the hidden victims of
drug use, and the laws must be changed.

"The new policy must be the best interest of the child not the
drug-addicted parent," the Liberal MP said.

The Families and Human Services Committee inquiry also
recommended:

REWRITING national schools' drugs policies to emphasise zero
tolerance.

PROMOTING contraception for drug-addicted women.

BANNING takeaway methadone for addicted parents who have children
living with them.

A BAN on funding for groups that use the terms "recreational" and
"party" drugs.

REWARDS for addicts who give up drugs.

The committee heard children were suffering because state agencies and
many magistrates preferred to keep kids with their parents.

One case involved the death of a child who ingested 40mg of
methadone.

Some drug-addicted mothers were desperate to get their children back
from foster carers to get access to family support payments, the
committee was told.

In a dissenting report, Labor members of the committee rejected many
of the inquiry's conclusions.

They said taking children away from their parents was not always a
good idea.

In a special statement in the report, Prime Minister John Howard said
his Government would never give up the fight against drugs.

"We will always maintain a zero tolerance approach."