Psychiatric Drugging of Foster Kids—Government Needs to Take Urgent Action

“This is an urgent issue, and child-centered organizations and individuals need to let state and federal administrators, Congress and state legislators know that it needs immediate action,” says Edward Opton, a psychologist and lawyer involved in child welfare issues. “The medical literature shows no studies of the long-term effects of antipsychotic drugs on children, including drugs for so-called conduct disorder, the condition for which they are most frequently prescribed to children. There are no data on drugged vs. undrugged children with respect to completion of school, employment, early pregnancy, imprisonment, or subjective quality of life as evaluated by the children or by anyone else.”

7-year-old Brooke suffers side effects of TEN anti-psychotic drugs—she’s one of millions of over-prescribed foster kids

Brooke is 7 years old and weighs just 45 pounds.

But over the course of four months, a medical clinic being paid with state dollars prescribed her a cocktail of anti-psychotic drugs that her family doctor says could be dangerous even for an adult.

The drugs didn’t fix her temper tantrums and bad moods. Instead, they made her problems worse. And when she tried to go off of them, she became almost uncontrollable.

Brooke is just one of millions of foster children across the country who have been prescribed unprecedented levels of powerful mind-altering drugs in an often misguided attempt to control the emotional problems these kids experience after watching their families break apart.

ABC News: The Foster Kids Speak Out

Not long ago, 7-year-old Brooke was on a medical regimen that might seem extreme, even for an adult: The 43-pound girl was prescribed multiple mind-altering psychotropic drugs.

Dealt a tough hand early in life — her birth mother had a history of drug dealing and prostitution — Brooke was prone to extreme tantrums and wild behavior. Her foster mother, Lisa Ward, says a Florida foster care agency instructed her to take the girl to a mental health clinic. The clinic prescribed anti-psychotic medication, often used to treat schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

“Within a few weeks, probably two, they decided that it wasn’t working. They needed to do something else,” Ward recalled. “At this point, she’s getting worse, she’s not getting any better.”

Brooke was given 10 different prescriptions in four months, with the clinic frequently increasing her doses.