SavetheChildren2009
Desperate Children In Need!
DCF & Medicine
Stories: Drugging Foster Kids One thing each young person had in common was a massive over drugging with psychiatric drugs. Child placement agencies, foster parents, RTCs (Residential Treatment Centers) and Therapeutic Foster Homes are 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 a foster parent or residential care facility is paid. A child at the basic level of care is worth about $17.00 per day where a child in the highest level of care could be worth as much as a $1000.00 a day. This creates an incentive to diagnose every children with emotional, behavioral or physical problems or disability, in order 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 psychiatrist at one time. These drugs include all categories of psychiatric drugs; antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiety medications, anticonvulsant medications, etc. The Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (known as SSRI) drugs such as Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc., are well-known and their dangers have been publically exposed. A number of these children described taking Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon and other new generation antipsychotics which have been linked to weight gain, obesity, diabetes and even suicide. Many of these drugs are not approved for children and the long-term effects of these drugs on growing minds and bodies are yet unknown. Byron Pitts looks into allegations that kids in foster care are being over-medicated on anti-psychotic drugs: CONROE, Texas, Oct. 18, 2006 (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? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/18/eveningnews/main2104249.shtml Andrea Holcomb lost custody of her son when he was 7, after her ex- husband Andrea says Colby was on at least 20 different drugs when he was in foster "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 There are similar allegations being made in California, Ohio and Florida. Gwen Olsen, a former pharmaceuticals representative who quit her job and "They clamp down on the central nervous system. In effect, they reduce your Psychiatrist Christopher Correll is leading a nationwide study on the "It is a serious step to use an anti-psychotic, there's no doubt about it. "To me, the true travesty of the situation is that we take children who Colby Holcomb is home and feeling better. He is no longer taking any A more recent study (March 2007) conducted by Dr. Joseph Doyle Jr., of MIT measured the outcomes of former foster children in terms of their involvement in crime and other life failures. He found that nearly 20% of inmates spent time in foster care during their youth. His and other studies paint a sobering picture about the relationship between being in the foster system and life success. Hence, the question: what is actually better for the child? Virtually all of the research concludes that children of similar background and demographics consistently do better when they are kept with their families. The challenge is to balance the risks, and in doing so child welfare workers spend many sleepless nights worrying that they have made the "right" decision about removing or not removing a child from their biological parent. I cast my lot with doing everything possible to keep children with their biological parents and build a safety net around them with services and support. I also have initiated systems to try to do a better job screening out prospective foster parents, people around children who may present a risk, and building systematic monitoring of children who come under our jurisdiction. Abused Children Have More Severe Injuries Than Those With Unintentional Injuries New York (MedscapeWire) Jan 11 — Among children hospitalized for blunt trauma, abused children, on the average, have more severe injuries, require more medical services, have higher mortality rates, and have worse functional outcomes than children hospitalized with unintentional injuries, according to an article appearing in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass, and colleagues studied medical records (of injured children, newborn to age 4 years) submitted to the National Pediatric Trauma Registry between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 1997. During the 10-year study period, the researchers found that child abuse accounted for about 11% of all blunt trauma to patients younger than 5 years. The children injured by child abuse tended to be younger (the age for abused children averaged about 13 months while children with unintentional injuries had an average age of approximately 26 months) and they were more likely to already have a medical history prior to injury (53% vs 14.1%). Of the abused children, 27.8% had retinal hemorrhages while only 0.06% of those with unintentional injuries had retinal hemorrhages. "Abused children were mainly injured by battering (53%) and by shaking (10.3%); unintentionally injured children were hurt mainly by falls (58.4%) and by motor vehicle-related events (37.1%)," the researchers write. Abused children were more likely to have head, chest, and abdominal injuries than their unintentionally injured peers. They were also more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit and to receive Child Protective Services and Social Services intervention. The average length of hospital stay was more than double for the abused children (9.3 vs 3.8 days) and their survival rates to hospital discharge was significantly worse (87.3% vs 97.4%). Among survivors, children who were abused developed extensive functional limitations more frequently than the controls. Of the abused children in the study, more than half were discharged to custodial/foster/Child Protection Services care. "Child abuse is a complex problem that requires immediate intervention to protect the child from further harm," the authors conclude. "Prompt evaluation in a protective environment, inclusive of hospital inpatient units in the absence of a specialized center for the care of abused children, is essential. Improved education of medical practitioners regarding symptoms and signs of physical abuse and improved documentation of physical abuse cases are highly recommended." According to an accompanying article in the same issue, a substantial percentage of head injuries that required hospitalization in children younger than 6 1/2 years were attributable to child abuse. Robert M. Reece, MD, and Robert Sege, MD, PhD, from Tufts University School of Medicine, Floating Hospital for Children at New England Medical Center, Boston, Mass, reviewed the medical records of 287 children aged 1 week to 6 and a half years with head injuries who were admitted to a metropolitan children's hospital from January 1986 through December 1991 to assess the likelihood of injuries being accidental or intentionally inflicted. "Accidents accounted for 81% of cases and definite abuse for 19%," write the authors. "The mean age of the accident group was 2.5 years and for the definite abuse group, 0.7 years. Major differences were seen in the rates of the following: [subdural hematoma], 10% in the accident group and 46% in the definite abuse group; [subarachnoid hemorrhage], 8% in the accident group and 31% in the definite abuse group; and retinal hemorrhages, 2% in the accident group and 33% in the definite abuse group. Associated cutaneous injuries consistent with inflicted injury [injuries to skin, ie, cuts, scraps, bruises, etc] were seen in 16% of the accident group and 50% of the definite abuse group." The breakdownnn by type of accident in the accident group was: 23% in motor vehicle crashes, 58% were falls, and 2% in play activities (the remainder had insufficient medical record information). Mortality rates were 13% in the definite abuse group and 2% in the accident group. The average length of the hospital stay was more than 3 times longer for the definite abuse group compared with the accident group. In the accident group, 8% of the children had subdural hematoma, 2% had subarachnoid hemorrhage, and none had retinal hemorrhage when they fell less than 4 feet. Of children in the definite abuse group, 38% had subdural hematoma, 38% had subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 25% had retinal hemorrhages when they reportedly fell less than 4 feet. "Serious pediatric head injury in children younger than 6 years, and especially in those younger than 3 years, is caused by inflicted trauma in a substantial number of cases. When these injuries are seen in cases with no history or with a history of short falls leading to severe signs and symptoms, the likelihood of abuse should be strongly suspected. Subdural hematomas and [subarachnoid hemorrhage]s are markedly more common in abusive injuries. Retinal hemorrhages are, if not diagnostic, compelling findings; most are seen in abusive head trauma. The mortality rate is significantly higher in inflicted injury and the length of hospital stay significantly longer. Skeletal surveys should be routine procedures for children younger than 3 years when there is any suspicion of inflicted head injury. Greater attention needs to be given to the dispositional decision for the child who has sustained inflicted head injury. Expert medical consultation should be made readily available to state or county Child Protective Services investigators so that their decisions can be informed by well-interpreted medical information and timely decisions can be made with regard to disposition. Prospective, well-designed multicenter studies of pediatric head injury would yield valuable information and should be carried out." When reviewing the 2 articles on intentionally injured children, a consideration in both studies is the limited population studied, according an accompanying editorial by Daniel L. Coury, MD. "These are children with injuries significant enough to warrant hospitalization," writes Dr. Coury. "Those children seen in health care settings — office settings, urgent care centers, and emergency departments — and not requiring hospitalization are not included in this analysis. Do injuries secondary to child abuse account for an even larger percentage of nonhospitalized cases, or is it smaller, in part because of perpetrators not bringing the child to a treatment facility? While this question cannot be answered by these studies, other conclusions can help us with these cases. The findings suggestive of abuse — especially the lack of explanation for a child's injuries — are important for all physicians to know and consider in evaluating pediatric trauma. The associated morbidity and mortality should make clear to every physician the significance of child abuse as a public health problem. Whether through increased identification of findings suggestive of child abuse or through increased appreciation of the morbidity of the condition, there should be more identification and reporting of suspected abuse." Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2000;154:9-10,11-15,16-
CBS News -Fostering Drug Use?
18 October 2006
made allegations of sexual abuse, CBS News national correspondent Byron
Pitts reports. 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.
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.
foster kids in Texas are overmedicated. "Children in foster care in Texas are dying. Children in foster care are
being drugged," Strayhorn says.
"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.
wrote the book, "Confessions Of A Prescription Drug Pusher," knows
firsthand about the impact of anti-psychotic drugs on children.
mobility and that sort of thing, so they are sort of like a chemical
straitjacket," she says.
impact of anti-psychotic drugs have on all children.
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?
just got a bum rap in life to begin with and they get into the system and
are further abused chemically," Olsen says.
medications - but his mother worries how many Colbys might still be in the
system.
