Foster kids in Oregon are prescribed psychiatric medicines nearly four times more often than other children according to a three-part investigative report by The Oregonian. The pattern can be traced to a system with incentives paying foster families twice as much ($600 per month) for taking kids with "special needs" and one that failed to monitor. Foster parents alone can decide to place the children on psychotropic medications, no independent tracking mechanism exists, and only one nurse reviews prescriptions for children under six. Many of the drugs were off label, and Oregon’s standards do not meet those of other states which have tighter systems of safeguards. Free registration is required.
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by Phyllis Vine
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I think your information is misleading. Foster parents do not decide alone whether a child is placed on medication. And there are no financial incentives for placing children on medication. I have been a foster parent for about 7 years. Foster children may be more medicated than average children due in part to multiple factors. The first being that they have suffered abuse, neglect and trauma that the average child has not. Comparing those two populations is very misleading. Printing something that does not adequately state the facts of our current system misrepresents the facts to readers.
Posted by Kristine | June 25, 2008 2:27 PM