Foster Care + Medications: What To Do?

Prescribing psychotropic medications to a child is something that should be done carefully after an educated dialogue between family and doctor. So what happens when the child in question is in foster care? Nationwide, there are more than 500,000 childrenin foster care at any one time, and more than half have mental illnessor serious behavioral […]

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Prescribing psychotropic medications to a child is something that should be done carefully after an educated dialogue between family and doctor. So what happens when the child in question is in foster care?

Nationwide, there are more than 500,000 childrenin foster care at any one time, and more than half have mental illnessor serious behavioral problems, according to the Child Welfare Leagueof America.

"The child welfare system wasn'tprepared for the deluge of kids that have mental health problems," saidDr. Chris Bellonci, a child psychiatrist in Needham, Mass. "By default,
it's become a mental health delivery system, and it's ill-equipped todo that." [...]

Someparents and advocacy groups say child welfare authorities routinelyresort to drugs to pacify foster children without fully consideringnon-medication options. Among the aggrieved parents is Sheri McMahon ofFargo, N.D., whose son Willy was in foster care for 28 months from 2001
to 2003 because of an inspector's ruling that their home wassubstandard.

A dilemma: medications for foster kids [Associated Press]