SEIZE DRUG ADDICTS' CHILDREN, SAY LIBERALS

CHILDREN of drug-addicted parents should be adopted out if their
parents can't "sort themselves out", a parliamentary committee has
recommended.

Liberal MPs on a House of Representatives committee inquiry into
illicit drug use have called for a hardline approach to drug policy,
including dumping the Government's "harm minimisation policy".

The committee, chaired by Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop, says a policy of
harm prevention and treatment would be preferable.

Ms Bishop said the tough approach to child protection had resulted
from stories of "appalling neglect and abuse" of children of
drug-using parents. The committee recommends adoption be established
as the "default" care option for children aged five and under, where
child protection authorities had identified illicit drug use by the
parents.

It also recommends amending legislation to allow for children up to
18 years to be placed in mandatory treatment if they are addicted to
illicit drugs. "Children who are being shunted from foster carer to
parent and back, or from carer to carer, can't afford to wait for
their parents to sort themselves out," she said.

"Children need stable and loving homes and adoption must be one
option available to provide this."

Labor MPs on the committee, in a dissenting report, raised concerns
about how the inquiry had been conducted.

Some witnesses had experienced "outright hostility because their
expert views did not accord with the personal beliefs or political
aims of those questioning them", they said.