prescription

The Obama Administration has proposed a massive federal program aimed at curbing the use of psychotropic medications to treat foster youths, an issue that appeared on the federal radar in 2011.

Recent reports by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) urge better, more cautious practices with respect to psychotropic medication of foster children. In 2005, nearly half of all foster children who were treated with psychotropic medications were prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, multiple medications, and/or medications without any other form of behavioral health service, according to CHCS.

by Michael Place I recently came across an article written in 2011, by Huffington Post blogger Kaitlin Burnett entitled: “Medicating Foster Kids: Not the Travesty It Seems?” A provocative title, that did its job and reeled me in.

Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a law that will require the monitoring of prescriptions for psychotropic medications to foster children in Texas. The bill was drafted to address concerns that many children in foster care are prescribed psychotropic medications – prescription drugs used to treat a psychiatric condition – in excess.