Are Drugs Being Misused On Foster Kids?

There's Growing Concern That Anti-Psychotic Drugs Are Being Misused On Children In Foster Care

(CBS)  Colby Holcomb's mom concedes that the 8-year-old, who's been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, can be a handful at home. But does such behavior merit the treatment Colby received in foster care?

Andrea Holcomb lost custody of her son when he was 7, after her ex-husband made allegations of sexual abuse, CBS News national correspondent Byron Pittsreports. These allegations later proved false — but in the meantime, Colby was placed in the Texas foster care system. For 18 months, he was in at least five foster homes. It's a time that still haunts Colby and his family.

Andrea says Colby was on at least 20 different drugs when he was in foster care. Yet, she says she has "no idea" why and says it was never explained to her.

While in foster care, Colby was also diagnosed as bipolar. According to his medical records, he was taking as many as four medications at the same time that gave him seizures.

"I woke up at the hospital with something stuck in my arm," Colby says.

He is not alone.

"I found babies, 2-year olds, 3-year olds being given mind-altering drugs," says Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas' state comptroller.

Strayhorn conducted her own two-year investigation into allegations that foster kids in Texas are overmedicated.

"Children in foster care in Texas are dying. Children in foster care are being drugged," Strayhorn says.

There are similar allegations being made in California, Ohio and Florida.

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FYI: Learn More About The Foster Care System

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"In Florida, for example, foster kids younger than 5 years old were treated with psychiatric medications at a rate nearly four times higher than the general population of children receiving Medicaid.

Gwen Olsen, a former pharmaceuticals representative who quit her job and wrote the book, "Confessions Of A Prescription Drug Pusher," knows firsthand about the impact of anti-psychotic drugs on children.

"They clamp down on the central nervous system. In effect, they reduce your mobility and that sort of thing, so they are sort of like a chemical straitjacket," she says.

Psychiatrist Christopher Correll is leading a nationwide study on the impact of anti-psychotic drugs have on all children.

"It is a serious step to use an anti-psychotic, there’s no doubt about it. But I think it is also very important to realize that these medications are used under very serious circumstances to actually help patients who have serious symptoms," Correll says.

But if the foster care system is designed to protect children who've been harmed, why would they engage in this if in anyway it was harmful to children?

"To me, the true travesty of the situation is that we take children who just got a bum rap in life to begin with and they get into the system and are further abused chemically," Olsen says.

Colby Holcomb is home and feeling better. He is no longer taking any medications — but his mother worries how many Colbys might still be in the system.

[defensefound]

Another aspect of this disgusting puzzle is that many children
are made to become foster soley for the reason of drugging.

I have many parents who would be more than happy to discuss
their experience. Through the schools/social work it becomes recommended
that a child be placed on drugs.
(keep in mind this is recommended by those who do not even have a license
to practice medicine.)
If the parent refuses,
the threat of their children being removed to foster care is immediate.
In many instances drugging is the first and only option offered.
I have circumstances of families who refused drugs and their children
were taken, this being the only reason......to drug.
or more politically correct medical neglect.
From what we now know of these drugs to be true
it should be considered medical neglect to place your child on these.
Ritalin is a meth based drug that causes
violence and sexual aggression in children.
Antidepressants can cause suicide and homicide,
destructive and self destructive behavior.
Denise
--
Denise Marhoefer
National News Correspondent
The Defense Foundation For Children
USA
Independent Investigative Journalist

[llay61]

Katie
Thanks for retouching on kids on medications. I no longer have children in school, but went through pure torture to keep my youngest child off of drugs that the school wanted him on. I had to threaten the teachers with legal action every time I met with them, that if the word "Ritalin" was brought up, they would hear from my attorney. The meetings finally stopped. I went on a field trip when he was in the 3rd grade and 28 out of 31 kids were on ADHD drugs. Please keep the public aware of this problem. It is pathetic! People should have more patience with these kids.

[llay61]

Another aspect of this pathetic problem, is that the teachers are now the doctors. They tell the parents when their child needs medications! Parents are too easily influenced by these teachers (some that don't even have kids of their own) and take their child to the doctor that the teacher suggest instead of their pediatrician. The teachers nowadays want "zombies" not children. They dont think what the long term affect will have on these children.

[trudy61]

I agree with the report. We were foster parents for over seven years. Everyone one of the boys placed with us were diagnosed with some type of disorder that required medication. Some of them were prescribed medications when they were placed, the rest were eventually given a prescription. We always felt that anti-psychotic drugs were being misused. I asked for re-evaluations as they got older but was told by the doctor they didn't do that. They just would change the med. The last child placed with us had been placed in a mental health facility for several weeks to get his meds regulated. He was ten years old at the time. The day after he was released, he burned out house down causing us to lose everything. I truly believe the medications were not regulated and hecould not control his behavior. We live in Pennsylvania. Our situation is not an isolated one.

[kwlambi]

well, as for the banning of tag, apparently the kids in Mass are not on enough drugs!

[johnrrowlan]

Katie, Thank you for bringing this subject to light I have a son with autism and he has been drugged since he was 2 I finally took him off of drugs 1 year ago and hes doing well the drugs were doing nothing but make him a zombie and thats just the way the teachers wanted him and the doctors and I also seen many foster kids in foster care here in town that are over medicated its a crime on our children and it is frying there brain I feel there should be an investigation on the whole problem and how many of these kids that are losing there minds in school shootings ect. How many of them are on these drugs helping them to become insane I FEEL WITH ALL OF MY HEART THAT CHILDREN ARE BEING ABUSED BY THERE PARENTS, FOSTER PARENTS AND DOCTORS AND TEACHERS AND SHOULD ALL BE CHECKED INTO ON WHY IS SO MANY KIDS JUST OUT OF THE BLUE CRAZY I BELIEVE THEY ALL HAVE AN AGENDA. THANK YOU

[davidwoaks]

Thanks Byron Pitts for your reporting the massive, unfair, inexcusable, oppressive, harmful, deadly, addictive, brain-damaging, massive psychiatric drugging of children in foster care!

This is my 30th year working for human rights of people labeled with mental disabilities.

1) FOSTER CARE IS SPECIAL. Fact: WE THE PEOPLE are the temporary 'parents' of kids in foster care!

2) The main psychiatric drug discussed is a red flag: neuroleptics (sometimes called 'antipsychotics'). Please note that RECENT mainstream medical evidence is saying that long-term high-dosage use of these drugs can cause such significant brain damage that shrinkage of the frontal lobes is visible in longitudinal CT scans (confirmed with animal studies, autopsies, etc.). In other words, this is literally -- no exaggeration -- CHEMICAL LOBOTOMY when used in high dosages, long-term. Think about the implications.

3) CHOICE IS A HUMAN RIGHT. I am pro-choice on a person's health care decisions. But a family with a child in trouble tends to ONLY be provided ONE kind of choice (the dominant and unproven 'medical model'). Families -- including foster families -- deserve a RANGE of humane non-drug alternatives.

Thanks so much for speaking out! Sincerely,

David Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
www.MindFreedom.org
Eugene, Oregon, USA
ph: 541-345-9106

[davidwoaks]

Thanks Byron Pitts for your reporting the massive, unfair, inexcusable, oppressive, harmful, deadly, addictive, brain-damaging, massive psychiatric drugging of children in foster care!

This is my 30th year working for human rights of people labeled with mental disabilities.

1) FOSTER CARE IS SPECIAL. Fact: WE THE PEOPLE are the temporary 'parents' of kids in foster care!

2) The main psychiatric drug discussed is a red flag: neuroleptics (sometimes called 'antipsychotics'). Please note that RECENT mainstream medical evidence is saying that long-term high-dosage use of these drugs can cause such significant brain damage that shrinkage of the frontal lobes is visible in longitudinal CT scans (confirmed with animal studies, autopsies, etc.). In other words, this is literally -- no exaggeration -- CHEMICAL LOBOTOMY when used in high dosages, long-term. Think about the implications.

3) CHOICE IS A HUMAN RIGHT. I am pro-choice on a person's health care decisions. But a family with a child in trouble tends to ONLY be provided ONE kind of choice (the dominant and unproven 'medical model'). Families -- including foster families -- deserve a RANGE of humane non-drug alternatives.

Thanks so much for speaking out! Sincerely,

David Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
www.MindFreedom.org
Eugene, Oregon, USA
ph: 541-345-9106

[davidwoaks]

Thanks Byron Pitts for your reporting the massive, unfair, inexcusable, oppressive, harmful, deadly, addictive, brain-damaging, massive psychiatric drugging of children in foster care!

This is my 30th year working for human rights of people labeled with mental disabilities.

1) FOSTER CARE IS SPECIAL. Fact: WE THE PEOPLE are the temporary 'parents' of kids in foster care!

2) The main psychiatric drug discussed is a red flag: neuroleptics (sometimes called 'antipsychotics'). Please note that RECENT mainstream medical evidence is saying that long-term high-dosage use of these drugs can cause such significant brain damage that shrinkage of the frontal lobes is visible in longitudinal CT scans (confirmed with animal studies, autopsies, etc.). In other words, this is literally -- no exaggeration -- CHEMICAL LOBOTOMY when used in high dosages, long-term. Think about the implications.

3) CHOICE IS A HUMAN RIGHT. I am pro-choice on a person's health care decisions. But a family with a child in trouble tends to ONLY be provided ONE kind of choice (the dominant and unproven 'medical model'). Families -- including foster families -- deserve a RANGE of humane non-drug alternatives.

Thanks so much for speaking out! Sincerely,

David Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
Eugene, Oregon, USA
ph: 541-345-9106

[davidwoaks]

[My apologies. When I submitted my comment I did not see it posted, so I hit the 'publish' button a couple of times. I ask that the moderator please remove the duplicates, sorry everyone.]

[paulrieker]

Alternative View:
There is an alternative view to the need for drugs.

An INITIAL SENSITIZING EVENT is wrapped with the emotions of Anger and or Fear, these events or 'traumas' have focus and seem to attract additional Anger or Fear as we ruminate on the memory of that event.

Infact, events which have no real 'importance' can become devistating to some individuals - according to this perspective.

The mechanism which seems to cause the more debilitation in this perspective is the Transition into Sleep, where additional Anger and Fear is increased.

These are the situations PTSD, Depression, Grief where when a Psychologist says "if you can't tell me the words, I can't help you". This is because Anger and Fear embedded in the subconscious have NO WORDS.

Unfortunately, this example is widely applied to many 'diagnosis' of depression.

Unfortunately, the Psychology and Psychiatry PHILOSOPHY, (a PhD in Psychology is a PHILOSOPHY Doctor)... that philosophy does not include the EXPERTISE of Hypnotherapy, Abreaction, Desensitization and Emotional Reframing.

When the 'EMOTIONAL WRAPPER' of anger and fear is broken, it's amazing to see the person NO LONGER is compelled to continue to Ruminate on that event or emotional debilitation.

Yes, The application of Hypnotherapy can break anger and fear. If you have the opportunity to watch and observe, you can see the short period of time which GRIEF, for example, can change.

www.BlessYourThoughts.com

[smiley7010]

This is so true. I have a 15 year old daughter in the hospital who has had been tried on many medications over the last 2 1/2 years. In elementary school she got by with just being very talkative and had allot of energy. I did not have her on any medication. Once she got into middle school it was a different story. I had phone calls constantly. And I was forced to do something. Currently she is doing well and has been in the hospital for almost 3 months, but the doctor won't discharge. I am trying everything to get her home. If I take her out AMA, the Dept of Social Services will take custody and put her in foster care. What rights do parents Have?

[wittsend3-2009]

Look deeper you'll find mst of kids in fstr cre were put there due to prntal abuse/neglect. More rsrch w/show t/birth prnts are often sbstnce absrs. Look deeper & youll find the brth prnts are often suffer frm mntl illnss thmslvs. Look frthr & you w/fnd it's due to the dismantling of our mntl hlth systm a 2 decades back. Rslting in the mntly ill in the U.S hvng to fend for thmslvs. They are the mjrty of our hmless, & those who lvng on the fringes of society. Now climb back up this ladder. Mntlly ill brth prnts who lost their kids to fstr cre lve on the strts or in slumlike motels & apts. Bcuse there is no help for them they self medicate with alcohol & other sbstncs. Mntly illnss the women often become pregnant. Their babies gestate under the influence of whtvr sbstnc their brth mthr has chsen as a frm of slf mdction. This is strike 1. Strike 2 occurs after brth when t/mntlly ill mthr & fthr,if he's even arnd, dont touch/nurture the baby. Rslting in Reactive Attachment Disorder. Rsrch this & what youll find is troubling. Theres no trtmnt & the child will grow up lcking a cnscnce. Outwardly you see srious bhvral prblms, oftn misdiagnosed &/or go hand in hand with other forms of mntl illnss. The cycles bgns again. Only t/ nxt gnration is even more severly affctd. I cant edit to 1500 chrctrs & Im mad youd hobble me so. Thrs much to know about this. I know I adopted 1 of these kids. But my breifest sttmnt stll exceeds yr rules. Shame on you. Tke a deeper look.

[lrsimon5]

An excellent story, but one that merely touches the tip of the iceberg. It is time to fully investigate the role that psychiatry plays as a social control agency utilizing moral judgments dressed up as pseudomedical diagnoses to justify the use of toxic drugs and other brain disabling "treatments" to bring about compliance in those acting in socially deviant and difficult manners.
Laurence Simon, Ph.D.
psychtruth.org

[suntanner]

After watching your story on the young boy who has been drugged I can't believe you didn't contact the Foster Agency who had him, and asked why he was on over 20 drugs. What is wrong with the news media today. I would have had a camera in the face of the agency people and asked why. Or the Dr. who prescribed the drugs. You complain about what happened to the boy and then you let the people responsible for doing it off the hook. What is wrong with you people? Are you afraid of being sued or something for reporting the news? You don't ask the hard questions on most of the stories you broadcast.

[marieliz-2009]

I am shocked that the CBS evening news would donate 25 seconds of sympathetic air time to Carol Strayhorn, and neglect to mention she is running for office in three weeks! For those of you not familiar with Texas politics, we are engaged in a remarkably close 4 way race for the governorship this season, and Carol Strayhorn is a candidate. The omission of this important piece information is so egregious one might suspect it was intentional. You would be hard pressed to convince me that the national media had not considered this piece might influence the outcome of our local politics. I have not only watched, but also TiVoed every episode of the CBS evening news since Katie has taken over. I am deeply disappointed in the lack of journalistic skills, and perhaps even integrity this omission indicates. Just makes me wonder what else you have neglected to metion.

Yours truly,

Dissapointed Texan

[marieliz-2009]

I am shocked that the CBS evening news would donate 25 seconds of sympathetic air time to Carol Strayhorn, and neglect to mention she is running for office in three weeks! For those of you not familiar with Texas politics, we are engaged in a remarkably close 4 way race for the governorship this season, and Carol Strayhorn is a candidate. The omission of this important piece information is so egregious one might suspect it was intentional. You would be hard pressed to convince me that the national media had not considered this piece might influence the outcome of our local politics. I have not only watched, but also TiVoed every episode of the CBS evening news since Katie has taken over. I am deeply disappointed in the lack of journalistic skills, and perhaps even integrity this omission indicates. Just makes me wonder what else you have neglected to metion.

Yours truly,

Dissapointed Texan

[errigal1]

Bravo, for speaking out about the attrocities of what is happening in our culture today with these highly toxic drugs and how they are affecting not only adults but tragically our children. I hope that we see more of this exposure of the truth in our mainstream media.

[zonulin]

I was thrilled to see this story - thank you! Last week our local newspaper ran yet another "Child in Need" column regarding children currently in foster care who need/want to be adopted. Two sisters were described as "taking medication to help manage attention difficulties and high energy. The medication helps during the school year... The younger girl not only takes medication "for attention difficulties and high energy," but also for "sadness." Not only that, she also takes medication to "help her sleep." This sounds like the JUDY GARLAND method of parenting. Drugs to affect behavior, drugs to sleep, drugs to alter mood. My goodness - WHAT are we doing to our children???

[wolflady4]

It is about time for a Federal investigation into the entire abuse foster adopt system in this country. Children are dying every day in the care of the state foster care systems.

Children are taken from parents and under the civil Court system the parents are considered guilty until proven innocent. Truly abused children are left with abusers. This system is completely upside down.

What the general public does not understand is the money game. The states and foster parents receive more money for these children if they deemed ADHD, RAD, ADD, OCD, and many other alphabet soup maladies made up by the psychological and psychiatric community. The drug companies love it. The pharmacutical companies are loving it.

When legislation was passed that prohibited the schools from insisting children be placed on drugs within just a few short weeks we suddenly saw TV ads crop up advertising Adult ADHD. Obviously the drug companies had to find a new place to peddle their wares.

Children are dying all over this country. We are raising an entire generation of prescription addicts. People are being bombarded day in and day out with ads for drugs they need to ask their Drs for. Yet when they give the disclaimer at the end of the ad about all the side effects I can not believe people are not petrified of taking any of this this poison.

Stop the abuse of our children by the drug companies and the state social service agencies. Follow the money trail. It lead back to D.C.

[wolflady4]

It is about time for a Federal investigation into the entire abuse foster adopt system in this country. Children are dying every day in the care of the state foster care systems.

Children are taken from parents and under the civil Court system the parents are considered guilty until proven innocent. Truly abused children are left with abusers. This system is completely upside down.

What the general public does not understand is the money game. The states and foster parents receive more money for these children if they deemed ADHD, RAD, ADD, OCD, and many other alphabet soup maladies made up by the psychological and psychiatric community. The drug companies love it. The pharmacutical companies are loving it.

continue

[wolflady4]

It is about time for a Federal investigation into the entire abuse foster adopt system in this country. Children are dying every day in the care of the state foster care systems.

Children are taken from parents and under the civil Court system the parents are considered guilty until proven innocent. Truly abused children are left with abusers. This system is completely upside down.

What the general public does not understand is the money game. The states and foster parents receive more money for these children if they deemed ADHD, RAD, ADD, OCD, and many other alphabet soup maladies made up by the psychological and psychiatric community. The drug companies love it. The pharmacutical companies are loving it.

When legislation was passed that prohibited the schools from insisting children be placed on drugs within just a few short weeks we suddenly saw TV ads crop up advertising Adult ADHD. Obviously the drug companies had to find a new place to peddle their wares.

Children are dying all over this country. We are raising an entire generation of prescription addicts. People are being bombarded day in and day out with ads for drugs they need to ask their Drs for. Yet when they give the disclaimer at the end of the ad about all the side effects I can not believe people are not petrified of taking any of this this poison.

Stop the abuse of our children by the drug companies and the state social service agencies. Follow the money trail. It lead back to D.C.

[marcusk8]

Our 12 year old autistic son Marcus who lives in Hawaii has been on small doses of the anti-psychotic risperdal for several years now. The Developmental Disabilities branch cut the funds from his placement of 5 years and put him in a new home that is "licensed by the state of Hawaii to care for autistic children", without a safety plan or a service plan in place. The child needs 1 to 1 supervision all waking hours Last month a doctor whom we had never met began treating him and changed the dosage from .5mg to 2mg at night because he is hyperactive at night and doesn't sleep well(supposedly to help him get a good nights sleep) without our permission. It absolutely incensed us as parents that a doctor could and would do this do this without a parents permission. Medical restraint seems to be the order of the day to save money on services. If this can happen to a helpless autistic boy, imagine what may happen to other handicapped folks and the elderly in the future as health care costs rise and the war in the middle east competes for dollars should be spent at home. Read more on the war on autism at www.autismawareness.com

Marcus Parents

[canuck1950]

It is time for a FULL investigation into CPS/DHS/whatever you call it and the Drug Companies, phsyciatrists, psychologists who FORCE parents to put their children on drugs, or take the child and administer them. In my case it was administer these "drugs" or face Child Endangerment" charges. Do not kid yourself, this is a BIG money Business......everyone gets rich, except your child/children and you & your family. We are left with sometimes little more than a shell of what once was our child.....if we ever win custody of our child back. There is a bonus paid if a child taken into "care" can be labelled disabled......the child has only to show signs of anxiety after being torn from his family and drugs are immediately perscribed. STOP this ABUSE and the KILLING of our Children

[canuck1950]

It is true that Carol Strayhorn is running for office, every Texan is well aware of it, BUT to date, she is the only one who has even tried to investigate CPS. This system is So CORRUPT that if the Devil himself promised an investigation, I would vote for him. When will the Public wake up and DEMAND a full Federal Investigation, CPS is directly funded by Social Security......we are paying them to destroy, drug, kidnap, abuse and murder our children.

[yamik23]

This does not even mention the long term affects these "medications" will have on these children's developing minds and bodies. If the drugs slow down the central nervous system and the brain is still growing, what affect might that have on the whole child?? Has anybody looked at the longevity of their internal oragns?
Often times the 'cure' is worse than the dis-ease.

[yamik23]

P.S. I was a child who was forcefully treated 20+ years ago by the Mental Health System. I know what it's like to wake up in a hospital with a needle in your arm. Unfortunately the abuse does not end there, that is merely the beginning.

[sweetyteeus]

AS a foster parent, I see and deal with the problems these children have because of the abuse of there parents. most of these children have RAD because of the sever neglect. Here in PA drug are a last resort to helping the child. its not given lightly. Please dont judge all foster home and the system to be the one harming these children, we're the ones loving them holding them as they heal from the abuse. We open our hearts and homes only to be hurt when the system gives them back time and time again. We dont do it for the money. daycare givers make more then foster parents do .. please dont judge all homes because of one or two cases you here about put you feet in our shoes and think about what we deal with ..children who curse you, kick you , bite you . hit you . act out sexually because of there abuse.. We get them help out of love for them.

[godshorn]

I worked in the healthcare system for many years. What people do not realize that before the pharmaceutical companies lobied in Washington we dealt with our children in other ways. The Pharmaceutical companies may have only been in existence for 75 years but boy do they have power in the medical care field. During the time I worked in hospitals, the pharmaceutical representatives gave luncheons, free samples, and sponsor different seminars and programs that did not have to come out of the physicians, departmental, medical care institutes pocket. When I began working in hospitals, the physicians really cared about their patients by the time I left (approximately 20 years later)the most important issue was the money: and the LOVE of money is the root of all evil, not money. When will we begin to THINK about what is happening to us. Again, I say this is suppose to be a democracy, BY THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE. We no longer have too much to say about anything. WHEN WILL WE BEGIN TO THINK FOR OURSELVES? And stop allowing others to think for us.

[lrosemeade]

The media is skimming the surface of foster care. Please, please dig out the whole story! For 25 years I have watched the system change from discipline to drugs. It is no longer acceptable for a foster parent to restrain children, or in some cases even to isolate them until they calm down. Foster parents are not allowed to use common sense parenting skills. A child quickly learns that he can make false claims against foster parents, and foster parents are aware of the possibility of serious false abuse charges. The child runs the show! With drugs, psychiatrists and therapists are assured jobs, foster parents get more money when a child takes drugs and becomes a higher acuity level, case workers can keep the children in care by alleging that the birth parents denied needed psychiatric treatment. Many of the children are fine until they are traumatized by the foster care system and are drugged for showing anxiety when they are removed from everything familiar. It is common to give sleeping meds and even to drug small children because no foster parent can watch a child 24 hours and they are notorious for slipping out at night or causing destruction while the foster parents sleep. Laws prohibit foster parents from locking children in the house, but foster parents are held accountable if a child leaves the home. Foster care is shrouded in secrecy and confidentiality.

[lrosemeade]

Many foster children have mentally ill parents who cannot care for them, and some of these children have mental illnesses and need medication. The problem is that they are thrown into the same pool as healthy children who are drugged by the system. Untrained foster parents are overwhelmed by the bizarre behaviors of the truly mentally ill, and these children are often moved to multiple placements but are not given the long term hospitalization and med stabilization that could help them. The entire population of foster children is so overmedicated that potential adoptive families can no longer tell the difference between the mentally ill who will max out their insurance and disrupt their family and the overmedicated normal child who will be fine in a new home. Thousands of older children are never adopted because potential adoptive families are afraid of the diagnoses and the medications and there is no way to tell what is real and what was fabricated while the child was in foster care. There is no standardization within the foster care system, so every state, every county, every private institution has a different philosophy and a different way to measure which child needs drugs.

[mrsdmm]

I found this story to be so completely biased that it took my breath away.
There is no doubt that "chemically restraining" children or any aged person, is not to be tolerated. This story made no effort to distinguish between unsubstantiated allegations and anecdotal episodes, and what scientific studies have shown.
Children with correctly diagnosed mental illness will get sicker and sicker if they are not treated. Untreated mental illnesses impact every realm of a childs life and all too frequently are fatal. There are many treatments, including medications.
Children in the child welfare system have much higher incidence of mental illnesses, than children in the general population. More than 80% of foster children have a developmental, emotional or behavioral disorder and mental health care is usually their greatest medical need.
A story that has a parent, a state controller, an author (whose book is about the subject but who is not an expert) and a psychiatrist who gets the least airtime has no neutrality. Where is there documentation of this abuse? When a reporter is "scandalized" by a 3 year old on psychotropic medication, what is the child's diagnosis? What brought the diagnosis about? Does the medication appear to be working? Are other interventions being used?
This story is lousy journalism and panders to sensationalism at the expense of very vulnerable children and their families.

[saibaba2000]

Foster Care is Slavery in a veiled form. It violates the 13th Amendment against Slavery & involuntary confinement. In NYC of the 17,000 children in Foster Care, 98% are Black & Latino, less than 1% White. It's a profit-driven racketeering enterprise that preys on the weakest members of society & counts with the unconditional support of the Family Court System that is an Institutionalized System of Injustice. In NYC parents only win 2 cases out of every 1000 against the CPS agency. Like Slaves, Foster Care children are available for anything imaginable: profits for Big Pharma & psychiatrists, drug experiments, pedophiles, prostitution, child porno, body parts, or just as pets. Thanks to Senator Mondale & his 1977 CAPTA & Hillary Clinton & her 1997 ASFA, children can be kidnapped under any imaginable excuse, kept with legal trickery, & then sold as Slaves. In the last 5 years in NYC 22,000 children have been "Adopted". The vast majority of them have Parents who desperately want them back, but a crooked Family Court Judge found them "Abusive". Forced Foster Care & Special Education Classes are the 2 main Social Cancer producers that continually feed the ever expanding prison, homeless, & mentally ill populations. They are tools of Population & Social Control to feed the Craddle-to-Prison Pipeline Industry. CPS is the Greatest Child Abuser & Orphaner: they artificially create Orphans of Children who have parents who desperately want them back. www.parentsinaciton.net. Rolando Bini

[yoniben]

The scourge of child drugging in the US had substantial roots in the State of Texas. It has become an epidemic. To learn more about the origins of this phenomenon, check out these stories. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/05/medicating_aliah.html
http://www.rutherford.org/oldspeak/articles/interview/oldspeak-jones.htm
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458

[linda183]

This story is very inacurate. You are doing a big disservice to foster parents. You should do a story that promotes the good people in foster care. We are upper middle class people that have had many foster children. We are finalizing the adoption of our "unadoptable" child. It wasn't until we found the right diagnosis and medication that he could function. He is not in any way sedated, but lovable, introspective and(now) a very kind person. Children in foster care have usually been thru unimaginable abuse. They also share the same genes with their abusive, sometimes mentally ill birth parents. If a positive light could be shown on the great kids that come out of foster care maybe more good people would be foster parents. There are unloved children in our contry that need help. It is the best thing we ever di. We now want to continue to adopt more children.

[metal_head2]

Isn't it funny how people who oppose abortion always circumvent this issue? That's because these people don't care about children. They only care about furthering their twisted theocratic agenda.

[metal_head2]

Being someone with attention deficit disorder, I can tell you that medication DOES work. However, there are reasons for the dramatic increase in medicating kids. Some of it is legitimate, while the rest is due to the fact that their are lazy parents who can't deal with misbehavior.

[lostsheep2]

OK will all those who hold fast to the "THEORY" of chemical imbalance,and pumping kids with poison please supply us with your sources of information that,as you claim,Show Scientific Evidence.....???? Of course lets remind the readers what the definition of true science is..
Something that can be repeatedly shown to occur,ie. Water freezes at 32 degress....
What so many have bought into is simply another "religion",and one that comes with a high price tag....CHILDRENS LIVES AND HEALTH.
Maybe all of you who buy into this mental health fabled crisis should pop some of those "safe effective poisons" that you are so willing to be given to kids....Any Takers?

[mamatad]

For those who are not aware of how ADHD has been foisted on a largely unsuspecting population, including health professionals, a short explanation is in order. ADHD is listed in the diagnostic and statistics manual, (DSM-IV, being the current version of the bible of psychiatry) as a disease.

This was achieved by a small group of physicians, key opinion leaders (KOLs) and putative leaders in their respective fields voting by the method of a show of hands, a lumped together set of subjective symptomologies into a mental disorder of the brain, and.... Eureka! Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder came into being.

It's an anomalous fact that many KOLs in psychiatry have close pecuniary ties to the corporate pharmaceutical industry -- an entity that has gained multi-billions of profits from the sales of treatments (read dangerous chemical entity psychoactive and antidepressant drugs) used routinely for ADHD, and has been proved to have a pervasive influence and impact on all aspects of society

[maainchi]

There is no scientific test for mental illness and psaychiatry does do not cure anyone.

I know of a little girl who was literally stolen from her mother by CPS in Illinois and who was kept from her mother for three years, all the while putting her into a foster home of lesbians from which she ran away when she was 4 years old! When she was found, they forced her to go back to that home and encouraged the two women to push for adopting this little girl.

This little girl fought for 3 years to go back to her mother, while being forced onto psychiatric drugs, including injected Thorazine(identified by psychiatrists as a chemical straightjacket, for adults). Her mother was trapped into stating that she had neglected her daughter, because, she was told, even if not true, she could get her daughter back sooner. She later won on appeal -- in Illinois, too, parents have no chance against the Department of Children and Family Services run courts -- and finally got her child back.

While in State custody, she was known, while on the powerful, mind-altering psychiatric drugs, to sit and bang her head against a metal bench for hours -- until she had a huge purple knot on her forehead. She was also sexually abused by a 14 year old boy who was assigned to the same facility.

Follow the money trail -- states that have large adoption ratios to the number of children taken into custody received large sums from the Federal Government.

This is criminal treatment of children.

[researcher25]

Thank you for exposing this horrific situation. You ask what happened to the system? Another poster had a good point -- foster parents can't do their job.
Why? It's all about the money.

Foster parents are trying to help these kids and the psychiatric and drug industry force them to kill these kids with drugs. It's disgusting and someone where along the line we have to take a stand and actually DO something about it. The key point is DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I have attended hearings and signed petitions. More needs to be done by all.

[researcher25]

Thank you for exposing this horrific situation. You ask what happened to the system? Another poster had a good point -- foster parents can't do their job.
Why? It's all about the money.

Foster parents are trying to help these kids and the psychiatric and drug industry force them to kill these kids with drugs. It's disgusting and someone where along the line we have to take a stand and actually DO something about it. The key point is DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I have attended hearings and signed petitions. More needs to be done by all.

[padraic10441]

I hope the major stockholders of Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers are reading about the way their medications are being used to abuse and torment children in the state of Texas (and other states). Matthew 18:5-7 can apply to those who torment children for the sake of profit, as well as those who lead children into sin. Wake up stockholders ! Write to your boards and complain about this injustice. If the Pharma reps didnt oversell this medication then docs and providers wouldnt use it as much off label. Better yet shareholders, sell off. You don't want blood money.

[daden2]

This story pisses me off to no end.

It is not, and should not, be considered a criticism of the vast number of great people who volunteer their homes to provide foster care to kids who don't have their own -- those people represent the best of what is American.

The responsibility and the blame for this lies squarely and only on the shoulders of the shrinks involved and the drug companies that pay their way.

THOSE are the guys who should be jailed or, worse, put on a cocktail of their 20 mind crippling drugs.

When the hell are we going to stop ***-footing around and start prosecuting the shrinks and drug companies causing this kind of thing as the child-abusing, money grubbing psychopathic criminals they are.

[daden2]

This story pisses me off to no end.

It is not, and should not, be considered a criticism of the vast number of great people who volunteer their homes to provide foster care to kids who don't have their own -- those people represent the best of what is American.

The responsibility and the blame for this lies squarely and only on the shoulders of the shrinks involved and the drug companies that pay their way.

THOSE are the guys who should be jailed or, worse, put on a cocktail of their 20 mind crippling drugs.

When the hell are we going to stop ***-footing around and start prosecuting the shrinks and drug companies causing this kind of thing as the child-abusing, money grubbing psychopathic criminals they are.

[itmaiden-2009]

My own son as a 3 year old wrongfully taken by the state of Florida was put on 15 different psychotropic drugs in 3 years. This resulted in Grand Mal Seizures, brain damage, loss of fine motor skills, and the child displayed the symptoms of overdose toxicity. These drugs if even considered "safe" or "necessary" were not administered properly. The child in the home of his paternal grandmother was a victim of her lies so that she could keep him drugged and not chase after a normal healthy boy child. She had threatened to harm my child with these drugs when he was an infant. The State of Florida assisted her in her deliberate harm of my son. I guess they got some government money from the NIH and NIMH for it as well as some pharmaceutical "Kickbacks".

[lostsheep2]

So you are ADHD Metal_Head2...??? Who told you this...? A pill pushing shrink...? Or was it the clever television advertising that takes every day situations of life,then adds some BS about chemical imbalances,and there you have it...One finds themselves saying to themselves..."Hey thats me".....I need those drugs....By the way what do you take..? Meth..err I mean Ritilan..?
Ever see those cute little tinker toy molecular models of Meth and Ritilan side by side...?
Ever dig into what "other" things were discovered during the rat and mice trials that do not make it on the warning labels....? If your medication is marked as an adverse side effect"Emotional Lablity" Do you realize that is shrink code for SUICIDE...? How about chemical induced tumors of the lungs,or under the skin..Doctors(real ones that is) call them TUMORS,likened to cancer...You know abnormal cell growth....????? Do some research while your brain still functions...Use a dictionary if you don't understand the meaning of a word....Please.

[gryph_on]

We can validate your concerns about the overuse of drugs. We have been taking trouble teenage boys for 20 years. Most have been kicked out of group homes and residential programs. Most have horrible drug cocktails and clumsily walk about in a stupor. They cannot learn new behavior or anything else in this condition. Bipolar is the diagnosis most favored and most wrong these days. We'd rather have the behaviors than the effects of these drugs.

[lostsheep2]

For those interested there is a post here from one of the higher ups in a site called mind freedom,Sadly the belief that the effects of long term drug use(profitable prescription that is)Being of only a recent discovery is in correct.Many have known for decades what can happen....Any one care to guess why Meth was first used for...? To induce psychosis in normal people so that the shrinks could attempt to study schizophrenia...and that is where they started off with the use of words such as "A group of psychotic disorders"....Hmm no new thing under the sun,just repackaged and re-released to the public... Check out these websites also for more scientific proof not more psycho-bable theory.
www.ahrp.org www.breggin.com DECADES people decades!!!

[lostsheep2]

I have also read through and found a few concerned Texans that get a tad bent that CBS did not disclose that Strayhorn is running for office....Uh yeah so what...? Elections are going on all over the country,it's that time of year again...Duh !!!!
It's nice to see a really concerned politician,and for the record a google or dogpile search on Strayhorn will show she simply did not recently decide to use this tactic for office...She has been on top of this for YEARS!!!
Seems like some from Texas should be more concerned with those running for office that do not care about kids....No more Kids,No more Future..