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Congressman concerned about overmedication of foster kids
Congressman concerned about overmedication of foster kids http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...0329/1002/NEWS Growing concerns about whether foster children are overprescribed psychotropic medication have prompted a congressman to examine the oversight of the foster care system nationwide. The actions by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., which included a congressional hearing a few weeks ago, come as New York officials are trying to ensure that foster care systems have safeguards against overmedication. In recent years, several states have embarked on reviews of their foster care systems to determine whether psychiatric medications were being prescribed legitimately or instead were used as an easy way to control troublesome behavior. Many psychotropic medications — prescription drugs that can alter mood — have not been tested for safety in children. Instead, they are prescribed "off-label," which means that past history of usage among adults leads experts to believe they are safe for kids. In an investigation published in December, the Democrat and Chronicle reported that between 2002 and 2006, the number of Monroe County foster children on psychotropic drugs had increased by about 40 percent and that nearly half of Monroe County's foster children were prescribed psychotropic drugs. McDermott, a former child psychiatrist, said testimony showed variation in prescription approaches from state to state and county to county, demonstrating the need for a more consistent national approach to the prescription of psychotropic medications. In a recent interview with the Democrat and Chronicle, McDermott said that foster care oversight would continue to be the responsibility of states, but federal officials needed to find a way to promote more consistent prescription policies. At McDermott's congressional hearing, a former foster child related that she often had been prescribed psychotropic drugs. Misty Stenslie, now the deputy director of Foster Care Alumni of America, said that as a child she spent 12 years in about 30 different placements, including private homes, group homes and detention facilities. "Over the years I was on more medications than I can count, usually without my knowing what the meds were for, how I should expect to feel, side effects to watch out for, or any plan for follow-up," she said in a statement to the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support. As a senior in high school, she moved in with her last foster family, and those parents questioned the need for the medication she was given before bed, Stenslie said. She told them the pills helped her sleep because of the anxiety she felt when she heard strange sounds at night. One night, the foster parents skipped the pills, played cards with her until late, then stayed up and told her the source of each unusual sound — a furnace cranking on, a regenerating water softener, a dog slurping from a water bowl on another floor. Her fears were eased, she said. Because of that, Stenslie said, she asked that her medication be decreased and eventually discontinued. Stenslie's testimony, McDermott said after the hearing, reinforced his belief that counseling often can supplant medication. Some medication, McDermott said, may be needed for some children, especially given the high rate of mental illness within the foster care population. But the increasing use of psychotropic medications could be a sign of over-reliance on pills, he said. McDermott said he hoped to continue to work with the subcommittee's ranking Republican, Rep. Jerry Weller of Illinois, to determine the most appropriate role for the federal government. One speaker at the hearing, University of Maryland psychiatry and pharmacy professor Julie Zito, said better studies were needed about the outcome of psychotropic treatment. Many drugs do have beneficial uses, but foster children and disabled children are the most likely to be prescribed costly medication that has not been subjected to rigorous testing to prove its effectiveness, she said. Federal health officials should work with states to develop databases that help determine the progress and development of foster children on psychotropic medications, she said. In New York this year, officials of the state Office of Children and Family Services contacted county social service agencies to ensure that local officials were safely prescribing psychotropic medications to foster children. In the February letter sent to local officials, the state office noted the benefits of properly prescribed psychotropic medications but said that "many psychiatric medications have not undergone clinical trials with children to prove their efficacy, safety and long-term impact." The agency also detailed proper consent practices for the prescriptions. Monroe County officials received the agency's directions, and their practices adhere to the recommendations, said Kelly Reed, the county's commissioner of human services. Potent Pills: Foster care and mood-altering drugs http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...EWS01/71206023 Interviews with families and experts; state and county data. Kids on meds The Democrat and Chronicle investigated the prescription of psychotropic drugs to foster children in Monroe County. In a two-day series in December, the investigation revealed: # In 2002, about a third of the county's foster care population, 327 children, were prescribed one or more common psychotropic drugs. By the end of 2006, the number had increased about 40 percent to 457 foster children, or almost half of the county's foster care population. # In the five years from 2002 through 2006, according to state data, Medicaid expenditures for common psychotropic medications for Monroe County foster children nearly doubled — an increase almost four times the statewide rate. # Psychotropic medications also are more commonly used at residential foster care treatment centers than in the past, according to medical and psychiatric staff. # In 2006, Monroe County foster children on psychotropic medications were prescribed an average of 1.47 medications. Other localities have been criticized for higher rates of multiple medications, especially since the side effects are often unknown when the drugs are mixed. In Texas, for example, the average number of psychotropic drugs used by a foster child receiving medication was 2.55 in 2004, a study shows. # Records from 2006 show that more than one of every eight foster children in Monroe County was once on some kind of drug to combat psychosis, a severe form of mental illness characterized by loss of contact with reality. An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and the Child Protection "INDUSTRY" Child Protective Services Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of CPS. every parent should read the free handbook from connecticut dcf watch... http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US These numbers come from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN) Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS Perpetrators of Maltreatment Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13 Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12 Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5 Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per 100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a bunch of social workers. THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST Currently Child Protective Services violates more constitutionally guaranteed liberties & civil rights on a daily basis then all other agencies combined, Including the National Security agency/Central intelligence agency wiretaping programs… THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/...s.php?filter=6 This is Child Protection? By Gregory A. Hession, J.D. http://www.jbs.org/node/4632 Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...nion-rightrail FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILU. A Brief Analysis of the Casey Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler http://www.nccpr.org/reports/cfpanalysis.doc HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families By Nev Moore Massachusetts News http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/...May/mayds4.htm A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster ca 30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children. 27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated 33% were receiving public assistance 37% had not finished high school 2% receive a college degree 50% were unemployed Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population. *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support 80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system. The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991 Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent housing. This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in the first place. Front-page story in USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...m?csp=34#Close Read the studies online. Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Ca Findings from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publi...lumniStudy.htm MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care," http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fo...arch07_aer.pdf Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" reports: www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than walking wreckage... CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON... BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION... |
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