A Critical Look At The Care System, Medication of Children

[Guest guest]

Apparently nothing has changed since 1998

http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster13.htm

MEDICATION OF CHILDREN

In Washington state, one out of every five children in the foster

care system is on potent mood-altering medications. Yet the state

has no safeguards in place regulating their use to protect the

children who swallow the potentially toxic pills.

The state does not chronicle the problems children experience

with these drugs, nor are officials even certain how many of their

wards take behavioral medications. And the ranks of foster

children being given psychotropic drugs have swelled over the

years, experts say.

Says Aija Guedel, former president of the School Nurses

Organization of Washington: "When I see foster children, most of

them are on a stimulant, anti-depressant or anti-psychotic - or

usually all three."

What are the results on the children? According to a six-month

investigation conducted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A 4-year-old girl was rushed to intensive care

with an erratic heartbeat after her foster parents accidentally

doubled her daily dose of anti-depressants - a dose already far

above the maximum recommended for her age and weight. The foster

parents said neither their doctor nor social worker had warned

them of the hazards of the drug, amitriptyline.

A 5-year-old boy tried to kick out the windows in

a bus, covered himself with feces and tried to run naked down

the street after being given powerful anti-depressants. His

foster mother said she never was warned of the side effects.

A 13-year-old boy sent into foster care in 1995

during the Wenatchee sex-ring trials heard voices and suffered

memory loss after being put on high doses of the anti-depressant

Zoloft. He later tried to kill himself.

Domico Presnell died. The wavy-haired 6-year-old

failed to wake up in his Seattle foster home last April 21. A

toxic level of amitriptyline was found in his blood.[1]

The psychotropic drug most often

prescribed to foster children in Washington state over the

past five years has been methylphenidate, or Ritalin, which

costs the state about 17 cents per pill, according to the 1996

Formulary and Drug Use Guidelines used at Western State

Hospital.

The second most commonly prescribed

pill was the anti-depressant imipramine, costing about 2 cents

a dose.

San Francisco youth activist Lyn

Duff, herself a former foster child, describes her experience

while in state care: "They put me on desipramine. A week later

they took all the kids in a van to the doctor. He spent five

minutes talking to us, with the other kids in the room."

"It's not unusual for me to have a

child 9 years old on two or three psychotropic medications at

one time," says Dr. Sharon of Mercy Medical Center in

Cedar Falls, Iowa.[2]

The

use of psychotropic drugs to control foster children in

state care has long been documented.

In a

landmark suit filed against the Illinois Department of

Children and Family Services, the American Civil Liberties

Union blamed the child welfare agency for much of the

child abuse in the state.

One

of four teenagers named in the class-action suit had been

in state custody as long as he could remember. Although

his mother and grandmother had told him they wanted him

back, the 13-year-old had not received any services that

might have helped to reunite his family.

In

the meantime, he had been "warehoused" for three months in

the Henry Horner Children's Center, where he was routinely

drugged with psychotropic medication and in danger of

assault, according to the suit.[3]

One of the numerous terms of the

consent decree stemming from the suit describes the

use of these agents to control foster children:

By January l, 1992,

DCFS shall convene a reform panel to review and make

recommendations regarding its policies and procedures

concerning (i) the use of restraint and seclusion on

children in care and (ii) the use of behavior

controlling drugs including a prohibition on the use

of such medication for the punishment of children, the

convenience of caretakers or as a substitute for

programming for children's needs.[4]

Has

anything changed as a result of the Illinois action?

Pia

Menon, a former attorney with the Chicago Public

Guardian's Office, was assigned to investigate the

Columbus-ville Children's Reception Center

operated by Catholic Charities.

Her

report, suppressed by Public Guardian

, was described to author Renny Golden.

Menon

recounts her findings on the use of drugs to

control foster children: "Many teenagers are on

psychotropic medications. Almost every child who

comes into the system ends up on some kind of

psychotropic medication--we're talking about four-

and five-year-old kids who are on Prozac and

Ritalin..."

"Give

me a break--it's to quiet them down," she adds.

"Generally, psychotropic medications take the

place of nurturing."

But

the use of medications is not limited to group

care facilities and the Children's Reception

Center. Menon explains:

Caseworkers prefer that the child is

medicated. It helps the foster care parents, who

may not be qualified to deal with a disruptive

child. Staff often have no idea what a drug does

to the child. They dispense it like aspirin. There

is absolutely no one to monitor kids on multiple

meds.

What

this all amounts to is a systematic assault on

children who've already been removed from home,

medicated, coded, misdiagnosed, therapized...[5]

Prentis Caudill was a ward

of the state. Both he and his sister endured the

difficulties of placement in residential group

homes and psychiatric facilities. "All you have

to do is act up and they give you drugs," says

Prentis. "The drugs were nice because they'd

calm you down or put you to sleep for days."

Adds Prentis: "They gave

me Thyroxine. Sometimes your muscles twitch."[6]

In California, judicial approval

is required for giving psychotropic drugs

to any foster child. Says Dr.

Malkin, who reviews the drugs for Los

Angeles County judges: "The psychiatrist

is usually beseeched by the group home

operator to medicate the kids."

Dr. Malkin tries to substitute

milder medications that don't cause

permanent facial tics, heavy sedation and

other side effects.

According to Malkim, the Judicial

approval required in California deters

doctors from dispensing risky

anti-psychotic drugs en masse.[7]

Oh,

is that so?

A

1997 Los Angeles Grand Jury report

indicates that foster children are

frequently medicated with psychotropic

drugs.

Not

only are the children excessively

medicated, but the conditions in group

foster homes were found to be

deplorable. The Los Angeles Times

describes the Grand Jury findings:

Many of the nearly 5,000

foster children housed in Los Angeles

County group homes are physically

abused and drugged excessively while

being forced to live without proper

food, clothing, education and

counseling, according to a blistering

report by the county grand jury.

The

Grand Jury found that children were

given a variety of medications without

the proper consent of a guardian or

judge in nearly half of 158 audited

cases. In another instance, a group home

withheld drugs in hopes that a child

would be ruled severely emotionally

disturbed--thus drawing a higher rate of

government payments.

The

Grand Jury also identified inadequate

psychotherapy for the children, with

sessions of as little as five minutes

being held, although therapists were

billing for full-length sessions.[8]

Said

Bridge, executive director of the

Alliance for Children's Rights:

"We need to have small homes of

six beds or less to deal with

these kids in a therapeutic way

and not simply put them away or

drug them."[9]

The

1991-92 San Diego County Grand

Jury reached similar

conclusions, extending its

examination of the foster care

system in another direction.

Among its findings:

Caseworkers,

investigators and attorneys

believe that some foster

parents routinely complain of

behavioral problems, insist

that those behavioral problems

require mental health therapy

and then seek additional funds

for regular transportation to

the therapist and special care

needs. These claimed

behavioral problems are

subjective and are not capable

of being confirmed by

objective tests.

The Grand Jury

suggested that "foster parent

claims of behavioral problems in

foster children not previously

identified as having the

problems should be carefully

investigated."

In

examining the improper use of

controlling medications, the

Grand Jury found that the

medications in use ranged from

mild depressants and hypnotics

to strong psychotropic drugs.

It

determined that the lack of

money for medical treatment,

the financial pressures on

medical providers and a

generalized lack of medical

records for foster children

all contributed to make it

possible for unscrupulous

foster parents to obtain

medication for children who

did not need to be medicated.[10]

A

committee of the U.S.

House of Representatives

examined many of these

problems years ago,

concluding that the foster

care and child welfare

systems were in dire need

of reform.

A

1990 report issued by the

Select Committee on

Children, Youth and

Families described the use

of these mind-altering

medications, and the

bizarre treatments to

which children in state

care are frequently

subjected: "In the state

mental hospital in South

Carolina, children who

attempted suicide were

stripped to their

underwear, bound by their

ankles and wrists to the

four corners of their

beds, and injected with

psychotropic drugs."[11]

ELICITING

DISCLOSURE

Some

critics charge that

psychotropic

medications are not

only routinely

provided as a method

of controlling foster

children, but as the

means to obtain

disclosure of

non-events.

In

Wenatchee, Washington,

where allegations of a

bizarre and highly

improbable "sex ring"

involving several

prominent citizens

came to surface,

children alleged to be

victims are apparently

being provided

medications and

therapy as a means to

elicit disclosure,

critics charge.

Melinda

Everett, who was among

the primary witnesses

for the prosecution,

publicly recanted her

testimony on a

televised broadcast,

claiming that it had

been coerced.

Immediately

on the heels of her

public recantation,

Melinda was seized

from her grandparents'

home. Writes

syndicated columnist

Craig :

"For the past several

months the child has

been involuntarily

locked away in a

psychiatric facility

where she is under the

exclusive control of

'recovered memory'

therapist

s. No one--not

even elected state

representatives--has

been permitted to see

her."[12]

s, who is

under contract

with the state, is

among the

defendants in a

civil suit in

which Melinda

Everett is a

principal witness.

Melinda

is not alone in

her plight. More

than a third of

the alleged

victims of the

so-called "child

sex ring" in

Wenatchee were

placed on

psychotropic drugs

paid for by the

state once they

entered foster

care.

Are the

Wenatchee children

truly victims of a

sex ring that

included dozens of

people with a

local pastor as

ringleader, or are

they victims of a

state sanctioned

machine determined

to extract

testimony from

them at any price?

Their stories

include:

A

12-year-old boy

taking the

anti-depressant

Zoloft who heard

voices telling

him to hang

himself by

jumping off a

milk crate with

a rope around

his neck. His

counselor

worried he was

suffering from

memory

impairment as a

side effect of

the drug. He

originally was

sent to Pine

Crest, but later

was transferred

to an

institution in

King County

where he tried

to kill himself.

A

15-year-old

developmentally

delayed boy who

became a chief

witness in

several of the

cases after

being sent to

Pine Crest. He

later attempted

suicide while on

psychotropic

drugs.

A

boy described in

medical records

as "in denial"

and

"non-compliant"

after his

parents were

sentenced to

prison on sex

charges. At age

9, in April

1995, he tried

to run away from

the foster home

he shared with

two other

alleged sex-ring

children.

Doctors

increased his

dosage of

Zoloft, and the

fourth-grader

"tried to stick

(a) metal object

through his

chest,"

according to a

DSHS episode

report. He then

entered a

Seattle

psychiatric

hospital, where

he was

prescribed the

anti-depressant

amitriptyline.

In the

case of one

13-year-old girl,

her medical notes

indicate that

s

"apparently would

like her on

medications." The

girl later was

given Paxil.[13]

The

greatest irony

to be found

among these

tragic

circumstances

is that a

significant

number of

foster

children have

been removed

from their

homes for

reasons

alleged to be

related to

"neglect"

stemming from

substance

abuse by their

parents.

In

Hawaii, an

estimated 80%

of cases

involve

substance

abuse by

parents, says

Walters,

an assistant

program

administrator

with its

Department of

Human

Services.[14]

While

"historically,

people have

thought of

substance

abuse as an

adult problem,

substance

abuse by

parents has

made it a

children's

problem, as

well," said a

spokesperson

for the

Massachusetts

Department of

Social

Services.[15]

Apparently,

the child

protective

system has

gone to great

lengths to

ensure that

substance

abuse is

indeed "a

children's

problem," as

its solution

is

all-too-often

the traumatic

removal of

children from

their homes,

and the

systematic

turning of the

children into

drug-dependent

wards of the

state.

Copyright

© 1997 - 2002

Rick Thoma

Last

Updated April

16, 1998

[Guest guest]

Apparently nothing has changed since 1998

http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster13.htm

MEDICATION OF CHILDREN

In Washington state, one out of every five children in the foster

care system is on potent mood-altering medications. Yet the state

has no safeguards in place regulating their use to protect the

children who swallow the potentially toxic pills.

The state does not chronicle the problems children experience

with these drugs, nor are officials even certain how many of their

wards take behavioral medications. And the ranks of foster

children being given psychotropic drugs have swelled over the

years, experts say.

Says Aija Guedel, former president of the School Nurses

Organization of Washington: "When I see foster children, most of

them are on a stimulant, anti-depressant or anti-psychotic - or

usually all three."

What are the results on the children? According to a six-month

investigation conducted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A 4-year-old girl was rushed to intensive care

with an erratic heartbeat after her foster parents accidentally

doubled her daily dose of anti-depressants - a dose already far

above the maximum recommended for her age and weight. The foster

parents said neither their doctor nor social worker had warned

them of the hazards of the drug, amitriptyline.

A 5-year-old boy tried to kick out the windows in

a bus, covered himself with feces and tried to run naked down

the street after being given powerful anti-depressants. His

foster mother said she never was warned of the side effects.

A 13-year-old boy sent into foster care in 1995

during the Wenatchee sex-ring trials heard voices and suffered

memory loss after being put on high doses of the anti-depressant

Zoloft. He later tried to kill himself.

Domico Presnell died. The wavy-haired 6-year-old

failed to wake up in his Seattle foster home last April 21. A

toxic level of amitriptyline was found in his blood.[1]

The psychotropic drug most often

prescribed to foster children in Washington state over the

past five years has been methylphenidate, or Ritalin, which

costs the state about 17 cents per pill, according to the 1996

Formulary and Drug Use Guidelines used at Western State

Hospital.

The second most commonly prescribed

pill was the anti-depressant imipramine, costing about 2 cents

a dose.

San Francisco youth activist Lyn

Duff, herself a former foster child, describes her experience

while in state care: "They put me on desipramine. A week later

they took all the kids in a van to the doctor. He spent five

minutes talking to us, with the other kids in the room."

"It's not unusual for me to have a

child 9 years old on two or three psychotropic medications at

one time," says Dr. Sharon of Mercy Medical Center in

Cedar Falls, Iowa.[2]

The

use of psychotropic drugs to control foster children in

state care has long been documented.

In a

landmark suit filed against the Illinois Department of

Children and Family Services, the American Civil Liberties

Union blamed the child welfare agency for much of the

child abuse in the state.

One

of four teenagers named in the class-action suit had been

in state custody as long as he could remember. Although

his mother and grandmother had told him they wanted him

back, the 13-year-old had not received any services that

might have helped to reunite his family.

In

the meantime, he had been "warehoused" for three months in

the Henry Horner Children's Center, where he was routinely

drugged with psychotropic medication and in danger of

assault, according to the suit.[3]

One of the numerous terms of the

consent decree stemming from the suit describes the

use of these agents to control foster children:

By January l, 1992,

DCFS shall convene a reform panel to review and make

recommendations regarding its policies and procedures

concerning (i) the use of restraint and seclusion on

children in care and (ii) the use of behavior

controlling drugs including a prohibition on the use

of such medication for the punishment of children, the

convenience of caretakers or as a substitute for

programming for children's needs.[4]

Has

anything changed as a result of the Illinois action?

Pia

Menon, a former attorney with the Chicago Public

Guardian's Office, was assigned to investigate the

Columbus-ville Children's Reception Center

operated by Catholic Charities.

Her

report, suppressed by Public Guardian

, was described to author Renny Golden.

Menon

recounts her findings on the use of drugs to

control foster children: "Many teenagers are on

psychotropic medications. Almost every child who

comes into the system ends up on some kind of

psychotropic medication--we're talking about four-

and five-year-old kids who are on Prozac and

Ritalin..."

"Give

me a break--it's to quiet them down," she adds.

"Generally, psychotropic medications take the

place of nurturing."

But

the use of medications is not limited to group

care facilities and the Children's Reception

Center. Menon explains:

Caseworkers prefer that the child is

medicated. It helps the foster care parents, who

may not be qualified to deal with a disruptive

child. Staff often have no idea what a drug does

to the child. They dispense it like aspirin. There

is absolutely no one to monitor kids on multiple

meds.

What

this all amounts to is a systematic assault on

children who've already been removed from home,

medicated, coded, misdiagnosed, therapized...[5]

Prentis Caudill was a ward

of the state. Both he and his sister endured the

difficulties of placement in residential group

homes and psychiatric facilities. "All you have

to do is act up and they give you drugs," says

Prentis. "The drugs were nice because they'd

calm you down or put you to sleep for days."

Adds Prentis: "They gave

me Thyroxine. Sometimes your muscles twitch."[6]

In California, judicial approval

is required for giving psychotropic drugs

to any foster child. Says Dr.

Malkin, who reviews the drugs for Los

Angeles County judges: "The psychiatrist

is usually beseeched by the group home

operator to medicate the kids."

Dr. Malkin tries to substitute

milder medications that don't cause

permanent facial tics, heavy sedation and

other side effects.

According to Malkim, the Judicial

approval required in California deters

doctors from dispensing risky

anti-psychotic drugs en masse.[7]

Oh,

is that so?

A

1997 Los Angeles Grand Jury report

indicates that foster children are

frequently medicated with psychotropic

drugs.

Not

only are the children excessively

medicated, but the conditions in group

foster homes were found to be

deplorable. The Los Angeles Times

describes the Grand Jury findings:

Many of the nearly 5,000

foster children housed in Los Angeles

County group homes are physically

abused and drugged excessively while

being forced to live without proper

food, clothing, education and

counseling, according to a blistering

report by the county grand jury.

The

Grand Jury found that children were

given a variety of medications without

the proper consent of a guardian or

judge in nearly half of 158 audited

cases. In another instance, a group home

withheld drugs in hopes that a child

would be ruled severely emotionally

disturbed--thus drawing a higher rate of

government payments.

The

Grand Jury also identified inadequate

psychotherapy for the children, with

sessions of as little as five minutes

being held, although therapists were

billing for full-length sessions.[8]

Said

Bridge, executive director of the

Alliance for Children's Rights:

"We need to have small homes of

six beds or less to deal with

these kids in a therapeutic way

and not simply put them away or

drug them."[9]

The

1991-92 San Diego County Grand

Jury reached similar

conclusions, extending its

examination of the foster care

system in another direction.

Among its findings:

Caseworkers,

investigators and attorneys

believe that some foster

parents routinely complain of

behavioral problems, insist

that those behavioral problems

require mental health therapy

and then seek additional funds

for regular transportation to

the therapist and special care

needs. These claimed

behavioral problems are

subjective and are not capable

of being confirmed by

objective tests.

The Grand Jury

suggested that "foster parent

claims of behavioral problems in

foster children not previously

identified as having the

problems should be carefully

investigated."

In

examining the improper use of

controlling medications, the

Grand Jury found that the

medications in use ranged from

mild depressants and hypnotics

to strong psychotropic drugs.

It

determined that the lack of

money for medical treatment,

the financial pressures on

medical providers and a

generalized lack of medical

records for foster children

all contributed to make it

possible for unscrupulous

foster parents to obtain

medication for children who

did not need to be medicated.[10]

A

committee of the U.S.

House of Representatives

examined many of these

problems years ago,

concluding that the foster

care and child welfare

systems were in dire need

of reform.

A

1990 report issued by the

Select Committee on

Children, Youth and

Families described the use

of these mind-altering

medications, and the

bizarre treatments to

which children in state

care are frequently

subjected: "In the state

mental hospital in South

Carolina, children who

attempted suicide were

stripped to their

underwear, bound by their

ankles and wrists to the

four corners of their

beds, and injected with

psychotropic drugs."[11]

ELICITING

DISCLOSURE

Some

critics charge that

psychotropic

medications are not

only routinely

provided as a method

of controlling foster

children, but as the

means to obtain

disclosure of

non-events.

In

Wenatchee, Washington,

where allegations of a

bizarre and highly

improbable "sex ring"

involving several

prominent citizens

came to surface,

children alleged to be

victims are apparently

being provided

medications and

therapy as a means to

elicit disclosure,

critics charge.

Melinda

Everett, who was among

the primary witnesses

for the prosecution,

publicly recanted her

testimony on a

televised broadcast,

claiming that it had

been coerced.

Immediately

on the heels of her

public recantation,

Melinda was seized

from her grandparents'

home. Writes

syndicated columnist

Craig :

"For the past several

months the child has

been involuntarily

locked away in a

psychiatric facility

where she is under the

exclusive control of

'recovered memory'

therapist

s. No one--not

even elected state

representatives--has

been permitted to see

her."[12]

s, who is

under contract

with the state, is

among the

defendants in a

civil suit in

which Melinda

Everett is a

principal witness.

Melinda

is not alone in

her plight. More

than a third of

the alleged

victims of the

so-called "child

sex ring" in

Wenatchee were

placed on

psychotropic drugs

paid for by the

state once they

entered foster

care.

Are the

Wenatchee children

truly victims of a

sex ring that

included dozens of

people with a

local pastor as

ringleader, or are

they victims of a

state sanctioned

machine determined

to extract

testimony from

them at any price?

Their stories

include:

A

12-year-old boy

taking the

anti-depressant

Zoloft who heard

voices telling

him to hang

himself by

jumping off a

milk crate with

a rope around

his neck. His

counselor

worried he was

suffering from

memory

impairment as a

side effect of

the drug. He

originally was

sent to Pine

Crest, but later

was transferred

to an

institution in

King County

where he tried

to kill himself.

A

15-year-old

developmentally

delayed boy who

became a chief

witness in

several of the

cases after

being sent to

Pine Crest. He

later attempted

suicide while on

psychotropic

drugs.

A

boy described in

medical records

as "in denial"

and

"non-compliant"

after his

parents were

sentenced to

prison on sex

charges. At age

9, in April

1995, he tried

to run away from

the foster home

he shared with

two other

alleged sex-ring

children.

Doctors

increased his

dosage of

Zoloft, and the

fourth-grader

"tried to stick

(a) metal object

through his

chest,"

according to a

DSHS episode

report. He then

entered a

Seattle

psychiatric

hospital, where

he was

prescribed the

anti-depressant

amitriptyline.

In the

case of one

13-year-old girl,

her medical notes

indicate that

s

"apparently would

like her on

medications." The

girl later was

given Paxil.[13]

The

greatest irony

to be found

among these

tragic

circumstances

is that a

significant

number of

foster

children have

been removed

from their

homes for

reasons

alleged to be

related to

"neglect"

stemming from

substance

abuse by their

parents.

In

Hawaii, an

estimated 80%

of cases

involve

substance

abuse by

parents, says

Walters,

an assistant

program

administrator

with its

Department of

Human

Services.[14]

While

"historically,

people have

thought of

substance

abuse as an

adult problem,

substance

abuse by

parents has

made it a

children's

problem, as

well," said a

spokesperson

for the

Massachusetts

Department of

Social

Services.[15]

Apparently,

the child

protective

system has

gone to great

lengths to

ensure that

substance

abuse is

indeed "a

children's

problem," as

its solution

is

all-too-often

the traumatic

removal of

children from

their homes,

and the

systematic

turning of the

children into

drug-dependent

wards of the

state.

Copyright

© 1997 - 2002

Rick Thoma

Last

Updated April

16, 1998

[Guest guest]

Apparently nothing has changed since 1998

http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster13.htm

MEDICATION OF CHILDREN

In Washington state, one out of every five children in the foster

care system is on potent mood-altering medications. Yet the state

has no safeguards in place regulating their use to protect the

children who swallow the potentially toxic pills.

The state does not chronicle the problems children experience

with these drugs, nor are officials even certain how many of their

wards take behavioral medications. And the ranks of foster

children being given psychotropic drugs have swelled over the

years, experts say.

Says Aija Guedel, former president of the School Nurses

Organization of Washington: "When I see foster children, most of

them are on a stimulant, anti-depressant or anti-psychotic - or

usually all three."

What are the results on the children? According to a six-month

investigation conducted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A 4-year-old girl was rushed to intensive care

with an erratic heartbeat after her foster parents accidentally

doubled her daily dose of anti-depressants - a dose already far

above the maximum recommended for her age and weight. The foster

parents said neither their doctor nor social worker had warned

them of the hazards of the drug, amitriptyline.

A 5-year-old boy tried to kick out the windows in

a bus, covered himself with feces and tried to run naked down

the street after being given powerful anti-depressants. His

foster mother said she never was warned of the side effects.

A 13-year-old boy sent into foster care in 1995

during the Wenatchee sex-ring trials heard voices and suffered

memory loss after being put on high doses of the anti-depressant

Zoloft. He later tried to kill himself.

Domico Presnell died. The wavy-haired 6-year-old

failed to wake up in his Seattle foster home last April 21. A

toxic level of amitriptyline was found in his blood.[1]

The psychotropic drug most often

prescribed to foster children in Washington state over the

past five years has been methylphenidate, or Ritalin, which

costs the state about 17 cents per pill, according to the 1996

Formulary and Drug Use Guidelines used at Western State

Hospital.

The second most commonly prescribed

pill was the anti-depressant imipramine, costing about 2 cents

a dose.

San Francisco youth activist Lyn

Duff, herself a former foster child, describes her experience

while in state care: "They put me on desipramine. A week later

they took all the kids in a van to the doctor. He spent five

minutes talking to us, with the other kids in the room."

"It's not unusual for me to have a

child 9 years old on two or three psychotropic medications at

one time," says Dr. Sharon of Mercy Medical Center in

Cedar Falls, Iowa.[2]

The

use of psychotropic drugs to control foster children in

state care has long been documented.

In a

landmark suit filed against the Illinois Department of

Children and Family Services, the American Civil Liberties

Union blamed the child welfare agency for much of the

child abuse in the state.

One

of four teenagers named in the class-action suit had been

in state custody as long as he could remember. Although

his mother and grandmother had told him they wanted him

back, the 13-year-old had not received any services that

might have helped to reunite his family.

In

the meantime, he had been "warehoused" for three months in

the Henry Horner Children's Center, where he was routinely

drugged with psychotropic medication and in danger of

assault, according to the suit.[3]

One of the numerous terms of the

consent decree stemming from the suit describes the

use of these agents to control foster children:

By January l, 1992,

DCFS shall convene a reform panel to review and make

recommendations regarding its policies and procedures

concerning (i) the use of restraint and seclusion on

children in care and (ii) the use of behavior

controlling drugs including a prohibition on the use

of such medication for the punishment of children, the

convenience of caretakers or as a substitute for

programming for children's needs.[4]

Has

anything changed as a result of the Illinois action?

Pia

Menon, a former attorney with the Chicago Public

Guardian's Office, was assigned to investigate the

Columbus-ville Children's Reception Center

operated by Catholic Charities.

Her

report, suppressed by Public Guardian

, was described to author Renny Golden.

Menon

recounts her findings on the use of drugs to

control foster children: "Many teenagers are on

psychotropic medications. Almost every child who

comes into the system ends up on some kind of

psychotropic medication--we're talking about four-

and five-year-old kids who are on Prozac and

Ritalin..."

"Give

me a break--it's to quiet them down," she adds.

"Generally, psychotropic medications take the

place of nurturing."

But

the use of medications is not limited to group

care facilities and the Children's Reception

Center. Menon explains:

Caseworkers prefer that the child is

medicated. It helps the foster care parents, who

may not be qualified to deal with a disruptive

child. Staff often have no idea what a drug does

to the child. They dispense it like aspirin. There

is absolutely no one to monitor kids on multiple

meds.

What

this all amounts to is a systematic assault on

children who've already been removed from home,

medicated, coded, misdiagnosed, therapized...[5]

Prentis Caudill was a ward

of the state. Both he and his sister endured the

difficulties of placement in residential group

homes and psychiatric facilities. "All you have

to do is act up and they give you drugs," says

Prentis. "The drugs were nice because they'd

calm you down or put you to sleep for days."

Adds Prentis: "They gave

me Thyroxine. Sometimes your muscles twitch."[6]

In California, judicial approval

is required for giving psychotropic drugs

to any foster child. Says Dr.

Malkin, who reviews the drugs for Los

Angeles County judges: "The psychiatrist

is usually beseeched by the group home

operator to medicate the kids."

Dr. Malkin tries to substitute

milder medications that don't cause

permanent facial tics, heavy sedation and

other side effects.

According to Malkim, the Judicial

approval required in California deters

doctors from dispensing risky

anti-psychotic drugs en masse.[7]

Oh,

is that so?

A

1997 Los Angeles Grand Jury report

indicates that foster children are

frequently medicated with psychotropic

drugs.

Not

only are the children excessively

medicated, but the conditions in group

foster homes were found to be

deplorable. The Los Angeles Times

describes the Grand Jury findings:

Many of the nearly 5,000

foster children housed in Los Angeles

County group homes are physically

abused and drugged excessively while

being forced to live without proper

food, clothing, education and

counseling, according to a blistering

report by the county grand jury.

The

Grand Jury found that children were

given a variety of medications without

the proper consent of a guardian or

judge in nearly half of 158 audited

cases. In another instance, a group home

withheld drugs in hopes that a child

would be ruled severely emotionally

disturbed--thus drawing a higher rate of

government payments.

The

Grand Jury also identified inadequate

psychotherapy for the children, with

sessions of as little as five minutes

being held, although therapists were

billing for full-length sessions.[8]

Said

Bridge, executive director of the

Alliance for Children's Rights:

"We need to have small homes of

six beds or less to deal with

these kids in a therapeutic way

and not simply put them away or

drug them."[9]

The

1991-92 San Diego County Grand

Jury reached similar

conclusions, extending its

examination of the foster care

system in another direction.

Among its findings:

Caseworkers,

investigators and attorneys

believe that some foster

parents routinely complain of

behavioral problems, insist

that those behavioral problems

require mental health therapy

and then seek additional funds

for regular transportation to

the therapist and special care

needs. These claimed

behavioral problems are

subjective and are not capable

of being confirmed by

objective tests.

The Grand Jury

suggested that "foster parent

claims of behavioral problems in

foster children not previously

identified as having the

problems should be carefully

investigated."

In

examining the improper use of

controlling medications, the

Grand Jury found that the

medications in use ranged from

mild depressants and hypnotics

to strong psychotropic drugs.

It

determined that the lack of

money for medical treatment,

the financial pressures on

medical providers and a

generalized lack of medical

records for foster children

all contributed to make it

possible for unscrupulous

foster parents to obtain

medication for children who

did not need to be medicated.[10]

A

committee of the U.S.

House of Representatives

examined many of these

problems years ago,

concluding that the foster

care and child welfare

systems were in dire need

of reform.

A

1990 report issued by the

Select Committee on

Children, Youth and

Families described the use

of these mind-altering

medications, and the

bizarre treatments to

which children in state

care are frequently

subjected: "In the state

mental hospital in South

Carolina, children who

attempted suicide were

stripped to their

underwear, bound by their

ankles and wrists to the

four corners of their

beds, and injected with

psychotropic drugs."[11]

ELICITING

DISCLOSURE

Some

critics charge that

psychotropic

medications are not

only routinely

provided as a method

of controlling foster

children, but as the

means to obtain

disclosure of

non-events.

In

Wenatchee, Washington,

where allegations of a

bizarre and highly

improbable "sex ring"

involving several

prominent citizens

came to surface,

children alleged to be

victims are apparently

being provided

medications and

therapy as a means to

elicit disclosure,

critics charge.

Melinda

Everett, who was among

the primary witnesses

for the prosecution,

publicly recanted her

testimony on a

televised broadcast,

claiming that it had

been coerced.

Immediately

on the heels of her

public recantation,

Melinda was seized

from her grandparents'

home. Writes

syndicated columnist

Craig :

"For the past several

months the child has

been involuntarily

locked away in a

psychiatric facility

where she is under the

exclusive control of

'recovered memory'

therapist

s. No one--not

even elected state

representatives--has

been permitted to see

her."[12]

s, who is

under contract

with the state, is

among the

defendants in a

civil suit in

which Melinda

Everett is a

principal witness.

Melinda

is not alone in

her plight. More

than a third of

the alleged

victims of the

so-called "child

sex ring" in

Wenatchee were

placed on

psychotropic drugs

paid for by the

state once they

entered foster

care.

Are the

Wenatchee children

truly victims of a

sex ring that

included dozens of

people with a

local pastor as

ringleader, or are

they victims of a

state sanctioned

machine determined

to extract

testimony from

them at any price?

Their stories

include:

A

12-year-old boy

taking the

anti-depressant

Zoloft who heard

voices telling

him to hang

himself by

jumping off a

milk crate with

a rope around

his neck. His

counselor

worried he was

suffering from

memory

impairment as a

side effect of

the drug. He

originally was

sent to Pine

Crest, but later

was transferred

to an

institution in

King County

where he tried

to kill himself.

A

15-year-old

developmentally

delayed boy who

became a chief

witness in

several of the

cases after

being sent to

Pine Crest. He

later attempted

suicide while on

psychotropic

drugs.

A

boy described in

medical records

as "in denial"

and

"non-compliant"

after his

parents were

sentenced to

prison on sex

charges. At age

9, in April

1995, he tried

to run away from

the foster home

he shared with

two other

alleged sex-ring

children.

Doctors

increased his

dosage of

Zoloft, and the

fourth-grader

"tried to stick

(a) metal object

through his

chest,"

according to a

DSHS episode

report. He then

entered a

Seattle

psychiatric

hospital, where

he was

prescribed the

anti-depressant

amitriptyline.

In the

case of one

13-year-old girl,

her medical notes

indicate that

s

"apparently would

like her on

medications." The

girl later was

given Paxil.[13]

The

greatest irony

to be found

among these

tragic

circumstances

is that a

significant

number of

foster

children have

been removed

from their

homes for

reasons

alleged to be

related to

"neglect"

stemming from

substance

abuse by their

parents.

In

Hawaii, an

estimated 80%

of cases

involve

substance

abuse by

parents, says

Walters,

an assistant

program

administrator

with its

Department of

Human

Services.[14]

While

"historically,

people have

thought of

substance

abuse as an

adult problem,

substance

abuse by

parents has

made it a

children's

problem, as

well," said a

spokesperson

for the

Massachusetts

Department of

Social

Services.[15]

Apparently,

the child

protective

system has

gone to great

lengths to

ensure that

substance

abuse is

indeed "a

children's

problem," as

its solution

is

all-too-often

the traumatic

removal of

children from

their homes,

and the

systematic

turning of the

children into

drug-dependent

wards of the

state.

Copyright

© 1997 - 2002

Rick Thoma

Last

Updated April

16, 1998

[Guest guest]

Apparently nothing has changed since 1998

http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster13.htm

MEDICATION OF CHILDREN

In Washington state, one out of every five children in the foster

care system is on potent mood-altering medications. Yet the state

has no safeguards in place regulating their use to protect the

children who swallow the potentially toxic pills.

The state does not chronicle the problems children experience

with these drugs, nor are officials even certain how many of their

wards take behavioral medications. And the ranks of foster

children being given psychotropic drugs have swelled over the

years, experts say.

Says Aija Guedel, former president of the School Nurses

Organization of Washington: "When I see foster children, most of

them are on a stimulant, anti-depressant or anti-psychotic - or

usually all three."

What are the results on the children? According to a six-month

investigation conducted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

A 4-year-old girl was rushed to intensive care

with an erratic heartbeat after her foster parents accidentally

doubled her daily dose of anti-depressants - a dose already far

above the maximum recommended for her age and weight. The foster

parents said neither their doctor nor social worker had warned

them of the hazards of the drug, amitriptyline.

A 5-year-old boy tried to kick out the windows in

a bus, covered himself with feces and tried to run naked down

the street after being given powerful anti-depressants. His

foster mother said she never was warned of the side effects.

A 13-year-old boy sent into foster care in 1995

during the Wenatchee sex-ring trials heard voices and suffered

memory loss after being put on high doses of the anti-depressant

Zoloft. He later tried to kill himself.

Domico Presnell died. The wavy-haired 6-year-old

failed to wake up in his Seattle foster home last April 21. A

toxic level of amitriptyline was found in his blood.[1]

The psychotropic drug most often

prescribed to foster children in Washington state over the

past five years has been methylphenidate, or Ritalin, which

costs the state about 17 cents per pill, according to the 1996

Formulary and Drug Use Guidelines used at Western State

Hospital.

The second most commonly prescribed

pill was the anti-depressant imipramine, costing about 2 cents

a dose.

San Francisco youth activist Lyn

Duff, herself a former foster child, describes her experience

while in state care: "They put me on desipramine. A week later

they took all the kids in a van to the doctor. He spent five

minutes talking to us, with the other kids in the room."

"It's not unusual for me to have a

child 9 years old on two or three psychotropic medications at

one time," says Dr. Sharon of Mercy Medical Center in

Cedar Falls, Iowa.[2]

The

use of psychotropic drugs to control foster children in

state care has long been documented.

In a

landmark suit filed against the Illinois Department of

Children and Family Services, the American Civil Liberties

Union blamed the child welfare agency for much of the

child abuse in the state.

One

of four teenagers named in the class-action suit had been

in state custody as long as he could remember. Although

his mother and grandmother had told him they wanted him

back, the 13-year-old had not received any services that

might have helped to reunite his family.

In

the meantime, he had been "warehoused" for three months in

the Henry Horner Children's Center, where he was routinely

drugged with psychotropic medication and in danger of

assault, according to the suit.[3]

One of the numerous terms of the

consent decree stemming from the suit describes the

use of these agents to control foster children:

By January l, 1992,

DCFS shall convene a reform panel to review and make

recommendations regarding its policies and procedures

concerning (i) the use of restraint and seclusion on

children in care and (ii) the use of behavior

controlling drugs including a prohibition on the use

of such medication for the punishment of children, the

convenience of caretakers or as a substitute for

programming for children's needs.[4]

Has

anything changed as a result of the Illinois action?

Pia

Menon, a former attorney with the Chicago Public

Guardian's Office, was assigned to investigate the

Columbus-ville Children's Reception Center

operated by Catholic Charities.

Her

report, suppressed by Public Guardian

, was described to author Renny Golden.

Menon

recounts her findings on the use of drugs to

control foster children: "Many teenagers are on

psychotropic medications. Almost every child who

comes into the system ends up on some kind of

psychotropic medication--we're talking about four-

and five-year-old kids who are on Prozac and

Ritalin..."

"Give

me a break--it's to quiet them down," she adds.

"Generally, psychotropic medications take the

place of nurturing."

But

the use of medications is not limited to group

care facilities and the Children's Reception

Center. Menon explains:

Caseworkers prefer that the child is

medicated. It helps the foster care parents, who

may not be qualified to deal with a disruptive

child. Staff often have no idea what a drug does

to the child. They dispense it like aspirin. There

is absolutely no one to monitor kids on multiple

meds.

What

this all amounts to is a systematic assault on

children who've already been removed from home,

medicated, coded, misdiagnosed, therapized...[5]

Prentis Caudill was a ward

of the state. Both he and his sister endured the

difficulties of placement in residential group

homes and psychiatric facilities. "All you have

to do is act up and they give you drugs," says

Prentis. "The drugs were nice because they'd

calm you down or put you to sleep for days."

Adds Prentis: "They gave

me Thyroxine. Sometimes your muscles twitch."[6]

In California, judicial approval

is required for giving psychotropic drugs

to any foster child. Says Dr.

Malkin, who reviews the drugs for Los

Angeles County judges: "The psychiatrist

is usually beseeched by the group home

operator to medicate the kids."

Dr. Malkin tries to substitute

milder medications that don't cause

permanent facial tics, heavy sedation and

other side effects.

According to Malkim, the Judicial

approval required in California deters

doctors from dispensing risky

anti-psychotic drugs en masse.[7]

Oh,

is that so?

A

1997 Los Angeles Grand Jury report

indicates that foster children are

frequently medicated with psychotropic

drugs.

Not

only are the children excessively

medicated, but the conditions in group

foster homes were found to be

deplorable. The Los Angeles Times

describes the Grand Jury findings:

Many of the nearly 5,000

foster children housed in Los Angeles

County group homes are physically

abused and drugged excessively while

being forced to live without proper

food, clothing, education and

counseling, according to a blistering

report by the county grand jury.

The

Grand Jury found that children were

given a variety of medications without

the proper consent of a guardian or

judge in nearly half of 158 audited

cases. In another instance, a group home

withheld drugs in hopes that a child

would be ruled severely emotionally

disturbed--thus drawing a higher rate of

government payments.

The

Grand Jury also identified inadequate

psychotherapy for the children, with

sessions of as little as five minutes

being held, although therapists were

billing for full-length sessions.[8]

Said

Bridge, executive director of the

Alliance for Children's Rights:

"We need to have small homes of

six beds or less to deal with

these kids in a therapeutic way

and not simply put them away or

drug them."[9]

The

1991-92 San Diego County Grand

Jury reached similar

conclusions, extending its

examination of the foster care

system in another direction.

Among its findings:

Caseworkers,

investigators and attorneys

believe that some foster

parents routinely complain of

behavioral problems, insist

that those behavioral problems

require mental health therapy

and then seek additional funds

for regular transportation to

the therapist and special care

needs. These claimed

behavioral problems are

subjective and are not capable

of being confirmed by

objective tests.

The Grand Jury

suggested that "foster parent

claims of behavioral problems in

foster children not previously

identified as having the

problems should be carefully

investigated."

In

examining the improper use of

controlling medications, the

Grand Jury found that the

medications in use ranged from

mild depressants and hypnotics

to strong psychotropic drugs.

It

determined that the lack of

money for medical treatment,

the financial pressures on

medical providers and a

generalized lack of medical

records for foster children

all contributed to make it

possible for unscrupulous

foster parents to obtain

medication for children who

did not need to be medicated.[10]

A

committee of the U.S.

House of Representatives

examined many of these

problems years ago,

concluding that the foster

care and child welfare

systems were in dire need

of reform.

A

1990 report issued by the

Select Committee on

Children, Youth and

Families described the use

of these mind-altering

medications, and the

bizarre treatments to

which children in state

care are frequently

subjected: "In the state

mental hospital in South

Carolina, children who

attempted suicide were

stripped to their

underwear, bound by their

ankles and wrists to the

four corners of their

beds, and injected with

psychotropic drugs."[11]

ELICITING

DISCLOSURE

Some

critics charge that

psychotropic

medications are not

only routinely

provided as a method

of controlling foster

children, but as the

means to obtain

disclosure of

non-events.

In

Wenatchee, Washington,

where allegations of a

bizarre and highly

improbable "sex ring"

involving several

prominent citizens

came to surface,

children alleged to be

victims are apparently

being provided

medications and

therapy as a means to

elicit disclosure,

critics charge.

Melinda

Everett, who was among

the primary witnesses

for the prosecution,

publicly recanted her

testimony on a

televised broadcast,

claiming that it had

been coerced.

Immediately

on the heels of her

public recantation,

Melinda was seized

from her grandparents'

home. Writes

syndicated columnist

Craig :

"For the past several

months the child has

been involuntarily

locked away in a

psychiatric facility

where she is under the

exclusive control of

'recovered memory'

therapist

s. No one--not

even elected state

representatives--has

been permitted to see

her."[12]

s, who is

under contract

with the state, is

among the

defendants in a

civil suit in

which Melinda

Everett is a

principal witness.

Melinda

is not alone in

her plight. More

than a third of

the alleged

victims of the

so-called "child

sex ring" in

Wenatchee were

placed on

psychotropic drugs

paid for by the

state once they

entered foster

care.

Are the

Wenatchee children

truly victims of a

sex ring that

included dozens of

people with a

local pastor as

ringleader, or are

they victims of a

state sanctioned

machine determined

to extract

testimony from

them at any price?

Their stories

include:

A

12-year-old boy

taking the

anti-depressant

Zoloft who heard

voices telling

him to hang

himself by

jumping off a

milk crate with

a rope around

his neck. His

counselor

worried he was

suffering from

memory

impairment as a

side effect of

the drug. He

originally was

sent to Pine

Crest, but later

was transferred

to an

institution in

King County

where he tried

to kill himself.

A

15-year-old

developmentally

delayed boy who

became a chief

witness in

several of the

cases after

being sent to

Pine Crest. He

later attempted

suicide while on

psychotropic

drugs.

A

boy described in

medical records

as "in denial"

and

"non-compliant"

after his

parents were

sentenced to

prison on sex

charges. At age

9, in April

1995, he tried

to run away from

the foster home

he shared with

two other

alleged sex-ring

children.

Doctors

increased his

dosage of

Zoloft, and the

fourth-grader

"tried to stick

(a) metal object

through his

chest,"

according to a

DSHS episode

report. He then

entered a

Seattle

psychiatric

hospital, where

he was

prescribed the

anti-depressant

amitriptyline.

In the

case of one

13-year-old girl,

her medical notes

indicate that

s

"apparently would

like her on

medications." The

girl later was

given Paxil.[13]

The

greatest irony

to be found

among these

tragic

circumstances

is that a

significant

number of

foster

children have

been removed

from their

homes for

reasons

alleged to be

related to

"neglect"

stemming from

substance

abuse by their

parents.

In

Hawaii, an

estimated 80%

of cases

involve

substance

abuse by

parents, says

Walters,

an assistant

program

administrator

with its

Department of

Human

Services.[14]

While

"historically,

people have

thought of

substance

abuse as an

adult problem,

substance

abuse by

parents has

made it a

children's

problem, as

well," said a

spokesperson

for the

Massachusetts

Department of

Social

Services.[15]

Apparently,

the child

protective

system has

gone to great

lengths to

ensure that

substance

abuse is

indeed "a

children's

problem," as

its solution

is

all-too-often

the traumatic

removal of

children from

their homes,

and the

systematic

turning of the

children into

drug-dependent

wards of the

state.

Copyright

© 1997 - 2002

Rick Thoma

Last

Updated April

16, 1998