Petition To Stop Drugging Of Children In Foster Care

Stop Over-prescription of Psychotropic Drugs for Foster Children

Target: U.S. Congress

Goal: Investigate and stop over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs to foster children.

Recent studies show a disturbing over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs for children in foster care. Foster children often receive more than one prescription of powerful psychotropic drugs like Seroquel and Zyprexa, drugs used to treat severe bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in adults. Tell Congress to investigate these dangerous and irresponsible medical practices and illegal use of Medicaid funds to pay for them.

Studies exposing the disturbing trends of over-prescription of psychotropic drugs began in the early 2000s. For example, a 2003 study in Florida found that 55% of foster children in the state had been prescribed psychotropic drugs, 40% of them without even receiving a psychiatric evaluation. A 2004 study in Texas found that 34.7% of foster children in the state were receiving one or more anti-psychotic drug.

The problem is that drugs like Zyprexa or Seroquel which were designed for serious psychiatric conditions in adults are being prescribed for foster children with behavioral problems. Combining one or more of these medications is even more dangerous, as these medications can be known to cause depression in young children. That’s what happened in the case of Gabriel Meyers, a nine year old foster child taking Symbyax, an anti-depressant not meant for children, who killed himself in 2009 after an altercation with his foster brother. Gabriel’s doctor was cited by the FDA for over-prescribing the drug.

Medicaid pays for the medical treatment of foster children but there are supposed to be guidelines in place that prevent Medicaid from paying for these prescriptions that are not meant for children. What is occurring is a costly abuse of government money with fatal consequences.

Recent studies still show that foster children are receiving dangerous cocktails of psychotropic drugs at alarming rates. Senator Tom Carper has asked the General Accountability to look into this shocking disregard for children’s health and abuse of government funds. Sign the petition and demand that Congress addresses this problem now.

Sign the Petition by clicking HERE

Too many kids on psych drugs - Videos

Part One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73SRn1gdAdM&list=PL5F42E2F513601191&index=48

Part Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcvCtxaiOGg&feature=autoplay&list=PL5F42E2F513601191&index=47&playnext=1

Part Three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58UZqr3fiZI&feature=related

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Ashley

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Ashley I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state. One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs. Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get. A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems. It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time. These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc. The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking …

Source http://health5news.com/?p=2728

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Tristen

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Tristen I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state. One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs. Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get. A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems. It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time. These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc. The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking …

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Aisha

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children – Aisha I took my video camera to a Foster Care Alumni meeting and asked seven foster kids to tell me about there experiences in Child Protective Services while wards of the state. One thing they all had in common was massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs. Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes get paid a certain amount of money each day for taking care of a foster child. The amount of money they get paid depends on a level of care system. The more difficult the child or the more problems that child has, the more money you get. A child at the basic level of care is worth about 17 dollars a day where as a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a 1000 dollars a day. This puts the incentive on diagnosing children with behavior problems to justify raising their level of care. A child on psychiatric drugs is worth more than a child without problems. It is not uncommon for a foster child to be placed on many different psychotropic drugs at the same time. Some investigations have found children on as many as 13 mind altering drugs prescribed by a psychiatrists at one time. These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsants medications, etc. The SSRI drugs are commons such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. Also a number of these children described taking …

Source: http://health5news.com/?p=1631