New Study Shows U.S. Government Fails to Oversee Treatment of Foster Children With Mind-Altering Dru

The GAO's report, based on a two-year-long investigation, looked at five states -- Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Texas. Thousands of foster children were being prescribed psychiatric medications at doses higher than the maximum levels approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in these five states alone. And hundreds of foster children received five or more psychiatric drugs at the same time despite absolutely no evidence supporting the simultaneous use or safety of this number of psychiatric drugs taken together.

abcnews.go.com...

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What is our government really up to?

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Dear Stormdancer777,

The way the state treats foster children is disgusting. They are treated as a commodity and once they turn 18 most go homeless in many states. I took in a homeless ex-foster child after he was 18, the state said they had housing for ex-foster kids and that the waiting list was three years. Sounds sort of manageable until you understand that once they are 21, they cease being eligible. People with mental problems are put on the streets and foster children are put on the streets and the government does nothing to help them.

The person I took in told me how they tried to drug him (I knew him before, he wasn't some random person, friend of one of my children). If we don't care about the foster kids and we don't care about the mentally unstable and we don't care about the homeless, why should anyone care about us? Be well and peace.

reply to post by AQuestion


Thanks for posting AQ, I hope this topic gets plenty of traction, I had no idea they were drugging these kids, begs the question why?

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
reply to post by AQuestion

 

Thanks for posting AQ, I hope this topic gets plenty of traction, I had no idea they were drugging these kids, begs the question why?

Dear Stormdancer777,

I hate the answer I am going to give. They drug them because it helps them to find people who will take them in. A drugged up, non-problem foster kid is easier to deal with and therefore more people are willing to take them in just for the monthly payment. This young man was abused more in the foster homes than in his mother's home, she was sent to jail. A friend of mine, who has passed on, took in foster kids and adopted them. He took them in and adopted them, which meant he was not paid to take care of them. That is rare, the foster program is primarily a business and it is run like one. I have come to believe that orphanages are better than the foster care program in the United States. Be well.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Well now wait a minute, Why don't YOU Adopt/Foster/Safeguard these children.
One at a time. Sign up on the forms dotted line, and step up to the plate.
Then with time, social contacts, experience, and validity you will recieve grants/funding
and the powerful backing necessary to do justice.

I respect you for alerting U.S. to the problem, but quit pointing fingers and find a solution.
If you are so intelligent as to diagnose, please use your intelligence to cure as well.
We are with you every step of the way.

Tell us your plan to correct this injustice. We will give you time gather your thoughts,
When you are ready, we will be open to your ideas.
Have you thought of becoming a Social Worker? It would be a start.

S&F to your Important Thread Best to You

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Oh, I am going to put myself out here since I have personal experience in this. This is a very touchy subject for me so no nasty replies or anything.

When I was 12 I was taken into government custody for... something. They never told me why exactly, just vague answers. Within the first few days I was put on a drug call an "Anti-Psychotic(still not sure what those things do)". For about a month I was in a haze. I felt tired all of the time and could not think. After about a 3 months they upped my dosage and put me on an anti depressant(still 12). Well, about six months later i was put on 2 more types of pills(still dont understand what they were for). By the time I returned home to my family I was taking 5 pills a day. And I always was very sluggish until the effects wore of around 11:00am.

Eventually I stopped taking the pills around 15. Of course, there are some side effects that lasted years. I would say 17 is the age that I finally felt like I could think.I was still not as emotionally stable as I would like, but I felt my mind was working the way it was supposed to.

I could think! When I was on the pills I could think,sure, but after! After I could feel myself brimming with thought! Philosophical musing! Pondering scientific discovery! All of it! It was in my grasp. In hindsight, it was like I had never thought before.

There is one government agency I dont trust at all. It is DHS. This is not some joke or conspiracy. They took my mind from me for half a decade! I know what they did, I know that this was on purpose. I know the "motivation" and I am not impressed. I hold this grudge, its the only one I do.

I digress, spouting my hatred of DHS gets me no where. I know they do good, but this practice was wrong. If you know the inner working of the system, you know children are basically being sold. DHS gets money for every child they "save". This pisses me off cause I know exactly what is going on. They load up on children and collect the funding. Regardless of actual circumstances.

Not to mention the homes.

Twice I was put into foster homes that were actively involved in/running churches despite the fact I didnt ever believe in this stuff in the slightest. Protesting this loudly, it fell on deaf ears. What the hell? They had pastors try to convert me, along with my foster parents. Telling me I was going to hell if I didnt love Jesus(Hey, douchebags I am 12)

Another one put locks on the cabinets. Locks! WTF.

Another was relatively fine, but i still had to do weird chores and I think I got molested. In hindsight I kinda suspect the molested part.

I am digressing still.

What I am trying to say is yes, DHS does put children onto drugs for no reason.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Thanks for the ref, interesting thread.

In most states, the foster parents / budget gets more money for "special needs" (aka "drugged") children than it gets for ordinary children.

There is also a significant drive to increase budget for women's services which has a tendency to make some workers lean on women who are married or with boyfriend to claim that issues/problems are the man's fault and go into (even temporarily) some kind of women's shelter; if people won't do this, they lose the funding, like most government agencies. The effects on men's lives are pretty drastic as a result, never mind the effects on the women and children.

There are are many sincere, good people doing work in that field who grieve for the problems and work very hard to make things better. Unfortunately anything run by the government tends to fall to the lowest common denominators in every area, and this area is no exception.

RC

reply to post by Wildmanimal



I am afraid I am to old, and was I finger pointing ?

Just wanted to educate those who were interested.

reply to post by TsukiLunar


Thank you for sharing your personal experience, I have a friend that was in foster homes, her stories were horrible, but at that time they were not yet drugging the kids.

reply to post by AQuestion

I hate the answer I am going to give. They drug them because it helps them to find people who will take them in. A drugged up, non-problem foster kid is easier to deal with and therefore more people are willing to take them in just for the monthly payment.

Seems to me the children were more agitated while on the drugs,

So it is all about the money, in some cases?

reply to post by RedCairo

In most states, the foster parents / budget gets more money for "special needs" (aka "drugged") children than it gets for ordinary children.

I see, thanks again for the education,

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Good job putting this out on the boulevard. Drugging kids to keep them quiet has gone on for a long time. It needs investigating. Can't and can believe that it's all for money. There are a lot of good people in social services who leave, unable to take the system. Maybe this will enable some of them to come back and do it right by their conscience.

Flaws in the welfare system, medical and legal

Forced Drugging of Children in Foster Care: Turning Child Abuse Victims into Involuntary. Psychiatric Patients. M. McKay, Ph.D. AhstrocI.

docs.google.com...:4Qwj6EnIfDMJ:psychrights.org/Kids/2784457McKayForcedDruggingchildren.pdf+The+drugging+of+children+in+foster+ care&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiH4xN4vOH6EpBGG9WpXZwMvL-mXVXW9KUQxlSTTr4b-IVkO5eBA31gO7EnJ0bfxy0wFuqM7bKajlN7eSR77AwgI3ZTItTjMCb0q_YQIpF01zihlv_F F6g86xtKG8ALdzSSp1qe&sig=AHIEtbSqD0ufaokYivwk3UzQ3xH8glF9eQ

Bingo, financial relationship with pharmaceutical companies, I thought I would find that in there some place.

I want to say I am not judging foster care providers, most I believe trust that the doctors know what they are doing, it looks like children are put on meds even without a diagnosis.

I was also in foster homes during my childhood. I was put in a few temporary homes and when there were no foster homes available, I was 'held' in a psychiatric hospital until a group home, or foster home came available. The first drug I was put on I slept for about 3 days straight, only getting up a few times for the bathroom. I complained that I wanted off these drugs, so they put me on something else. I was medicated the whole time I was there ( apx. 6 mos.2 times so about a year total.) When left, I was off the drugs, thankfully. I've seen kids so doped up in these places that they couldn't even feed themselves.

I left my last foster home on the day of my 18th birthday. I was alone in the world at 18, so naive and ignorant to most things. It's a miracle I didn't turn into a homeless, drug addicted, baby making, unemotional person.

When you hit 18, the state is done with you and they cut you off and turn you loose to fend for yourself. It's a big world out there when you are young, ignorant, naive, and have no emotional or financial support whatsoever.

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.

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www.fostercarealumni.org...

Visit the website for the Foster Care Alumni of America.

reply to post by virraszto

I was 'held' in a psychiatric hospital until a group home, or foster home came available.

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry.

I am so glad you posted and have become a thriving "survivor".

I posted a link to foster care alumni of America.

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children - Tristen

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Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children - Andrew

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Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children - Elnita

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If you don't take the medicine we will not keep you.

Psychiatry Drugs Foster Care Children - Ashley

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I myself was put on drugs for depression and panic attacks, they actually made me worse, I know how awful some of these meds made me feel, but unlike these children I had a choice, when I would have a bad experience with a certain drug I could stop taking it, I can't imagine being forced to keep taking some of the drugs that were prescribed for me, it would have been a living nightmare.