Random urine
What it covers. Recent use — roughly two to three days for most drugs, longer for heavy THC use. For alcohol, a urine EtG covers roughly the past eighty hours.
How it works. The order sets the panel, the frequency, and the duration. TrueTest draws the selection dates; the donor is not told them in advance. On a selected day, notification begins at 6:00 AM and continues until the donor signs in and acknowledges the selection, and the donor must provide a specimen by the end of that day. Testing is possible outside business hours through 24-hour collection sites and mobile collectors. If no specimen is provided, the case contacts are notified that none was provided on that date. Collections are observed or unobserved as the order directs. The default is unobserved.
Where it fits. The workhorse of ongoing programs: frequent, affordable, and unpredictable. Because urine has a short detection window, randomness and frequency are the levers that make it work as a monitoring tool.
Scheduled hair
What it covers. Roughly the past 90 days from head hair; up to about a year from body hair. A hair test shows pattern, not a single event, and the most recent week is not yet in the sample.
How it works. Because the window is long, randomness adds little. Hair is collected on a set schedule — every 90 days — so each collection covers the period since the last one.
Where it fits. Establishing a baseline at the start of a matter, and checking at intervals whether the pattern has changed. Not for detecting last weekend. Often used in combination with urine testing.
Random monthly PEth
What it covers. Alcohol only. PEth is a blood marker that reflects drinking over roughly the past two to four weeks. It forms only from alcohol that was consumed, so incidental exposure does not explain it, and a single level cannot be back-calculated to a date or an amount.
How it works. One collection per month, on a date drawn at random within the month. A known draw date would let a donor stop drinking two or three weeks ahead and pass; a random date within the month removes that.
Where it fits. Where ongoing monitoring for alcohol abstinence is required. It answers “has there been drinking in recent weeks,” not “was there drinking on Saturday” — for that, a urine EtG collected promptly is the test.
Sweat patch
What it covers. Drugs only — a standard panel that can be expanded to include additional opiates and fentanyl. It does not detect alcohol.
How it works. A TrueTest collector applies the patch, typically to the upper arm or back. It is worn continuously for seven to ten days and collects drugs excreted in sweat throughout the wear period. At the end of the period the collector removes it and applies a fresh one, and the cycle continues for as long as the order requires. The advantage of the sweat patch is continual monitoring, unlike random urine testing. The patch is tamper-evident: removal or interference cannot be prevented, but it can be detected. Application and removal are in person — at TrueTest’s collection site or by a mobile collector.
Where it fits. Continuous coverage between visits. The trade-offs are the narrower panel, no alcohol, and in-person application and removal.
Video-observed screening
What it covers. Drugs, over roughly the past 24 to 48 hours. This is a screening reading, not a laboratory result.
How it works. The donor completes an oral fluid screen while a TrueTest collector observes on live video and reads the device. A negative reading ends the event. A non-negative reading is not a result; it triggers a chain-of-custody urine collection at a site the same day where possible, and only the laboratory result counts. Both parties agree to the program and its limits before the first session. The full description, including what the program gives up, is on the family court page.
Where it fits. Matters past the contested phase, consent orders and parenting plans with ongoing monitoring, and schedules where cost decides how often testing happens.
What the order has to say
A program is only as strong as the order that creates it. For random urine, the order sets the frequency, the duration, whether collection is observed, and what a missed selection means. It should also say what happens when a specimen comes back dilute — without that, a diluted specimen has no consequence. For a sweat patch, the order sets the duration of the program. For hair and PEth, it sets the interval.
Monitoring is priced as a program, by frequency and duration, not per test.
The model order carries a random-testing paragraph with frequency, duration, and observed-collection fields.