AlphaBiolabs: Bridging the gap – when a hair drug test is not enough

***SPONSORED CONTENT***

Marie Law, Head of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, discusses the many benefits of oral fluid drug testing for child welfare and protection matters.

Drug testing plays a crucial role in safeguarding children and informing court decisions. Whether used in private law cases – such as custody disputes – or during child protection proceedings, reliable drug testing can help establish patterns of substance use, monitor abstinence, and support safeguarding measures.

Legal professionals and social workers often rely on ‘wide-window’ (long-term) drug testing methods, such as hair and nail analysis, to assess a person’s historical drug use over several months. However, these methods cannot detect very recent consumption, which can be critical for assessing immediate risks to children.

This is where oral fluid (saliva) drug testing comes into its own.

A ‘narrow-window’ solution for real-time insight

Oral fluid (saliva) drug testing is classified as a ‘narrow-window’ (short-term) testing method, meaning it can be used to detect very recent drug use (up to 48 hours after drugs were first consumed).

During an oral fluid test, a sample of saliva is collected using an absorbent swab. The swab is then placed inside a screening device, providing results within minutes.  

If drugs are detected, further analysis is carried out at our UKAS 17025-accredited laboratory to confirm the results. 

The many benefits of oral fluid drug testing include:

• Quick, easy-to-use and non-invasive
• Immediate assessment – helping determine if a child is at immediate risk due to parental drug use
• Tamper-proof – directly observed sample collection makes oral fluid samples very difficult to adulterate, unlike wearable drug tests that can be removed, contaminated or damaged
• Cost-effective – no need for multiple appointments
• Wide range of substances detected

Easy to administer with no special facilities required (unlike urine drug tests), making it ideal for home visits, unannounced checks, and emergency assessments