Child safety dept tests catch ice parents

About 60 per cent of parents known to Queensland's department of child safety have tested positive for ice, and had their children taken away.

About 60 per cent of the parents who've been drug tested by Queensland's child safety department in the past five months have ice in their system.

Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman on Tuesday revealed the alarming statistic after new departmental drug-testing procedures eventuated in hundreds of at-risk children being removed from their parents.

"Since I announced that last year we've had over 500 parents tested for ice use," Ms Fentiman told ABC Radio.

"About 60 per cent of them have tested positive and they don't have their kids anymore."

Ice, also known as 'crystal meth', is a crystalline form of the drug methamphetamine that's more addictive than most other drugs, can cause paranoia and hallucinations and is notoriously associated with violence.

The government introduced the drug testing last November, with parents who enter into an Intervention with Parental Agreement (IPA) order with child safety authorities required to submit to drug tests performed by doctors.

The opposition criticised the measure at the time, saying there was already a policy requiring addicted parents to consent to drug testing.