It amazes me that people who "know" these things don't properly inform the police! If the police have reasonable and probable grounds they can get a search warrant. If social services have reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the children are exposed to the "SUBSTANTIAL RISK" of emotional harm as a result of CHRONIC drug OR ALCOHOL ABUSE IN THE HOME they can get an apprehension order.
HOWEVER--- this legislation is not aimed at those situations, contrary to what the previous poster noted. The existing legislation already addresses that issue (Child,Youth & Family Entrapment Act).
This new legislation however, is aimed at kids who IN FACT are THEMSELVES abusing drugs. Of course, this legislation enables guardians who believe their children are addicted or who they think are "out of control" to apply to the court on suspicion for an order confining them. At the same time, the drafters of the legislation know that you cannot imprison kids indefinitely on suspicion and gives such kids the right to ask for a court review. Let us hope that hysterical parents who think that all drug use is abuse get stopped in their tracks, provided that the authorities properly inform such kids of their constitutional rights and legal representation under the Act.
So, AARC should remember that! Maybe it isn't going to be so easy for AARC to lock kids up who do not have a real problem since they now MUST be informed of their rights. In addition, it's going to be harder to have an indefinite detention, even though what AARC has been doing has really been illegal all along anyway.
So, thanks to Mary Anne Jablonsky. I'll tell her next time I speak with her that this Act will likely assist kids with parent problems more than in the past.
As for kids that live in crack houses you should report those situations to Children's Services. They're always willing to jump in on the basis of rumour and innuendo. But when you do report, you'd better be sure that the drug use is CHRONIC, ABUSE and IN THE HOME.
It's better to be right than merely righteous.