There's lots of things that could be taken from this but I'm taking what
i want to take from this.
it's a nicely balanced piece. The words of the health service manager
showing the positive impact of psychotropic medication is enough for
anyone to think that psychiatric medications should be used on chidlren.
I seem like an ogre to say that they should be denied anything at all
that can take them away from their terrible lives.
Children in foster care have suffered, and suffered like you'd never
know. I want to punch and hit me just thinking about this injustice. I
am thankful there is a system to help them but I still would want them
to be given a full life and not drugs.
But maybe a full life isn't available for these children and the misery
and pain experienced by children in the UK and in the US is just beyond
the sort of pain that anyone should suffer. If there is no money and no
compassion then drugs make sense.
It's the lives of these children that make me know I'm right to be an
antitheist. Maybe humankind's chemical answer to god's mistakes is the
only solution in a sick and fucked up world.
http://hearingvoicesmovement.blogspot.com/
"
In Florida, 81,961 children covered by Medicaid were on psychotropic
medications from January to June 2009, compared to 76,358 from January
to June 2008, according to the state Agency for Healthcare
Administration. Numbers for private health insurance companies are not
public.
Local agencies are seeing a rise in the number of children with
psychiatric problems, from severe anxiety to depression. They're also
seeing more young children who are 5 or 6 years old. The concern is
especially high in foster care, where a higher percentage of children
are given psychotropic drugs than in the general population.
The April 2009 death of a South Florida 7-year-old foster child, Gabriel
Myers -- who was prescribed several mind-altering drugs and hanged
himself in his foster home -- sparked a statewide review and
recommendations in November that will result in new rules and
legislation in the coming months for children under foster care.
"We must do better for our children," said Alan Abramowitz, former local
DCF administrator and state director of the DCF Family Safety Program
Office. "Medication is not the cure-all."
Adderall is the psychotropic medication prescribed statewide in foster
care to the largest number of children for attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, DCF records show. Locally in foster care, the
main psychotropic drug being prescribed is Seroquel for mental/mood
conditions.
Some child advocates question whether medications -- some of which have
serious side effects such as suicidal thoughts -- are being used as a
quick fix to behavioral problems that children will grow out of because
their brains are still growing.
"It shouldn't take mind-altering medications to help children grow up,"
said Karen A. Gievers, a child advocate and an attorney in Tallahassee.
"It takes good parents to help children grow up."
Others say some children need medications to help them concentrate and
succeed in life. Some are being exposed to more violence at home and
dealing with issues not seen a decade ago.
"We get children who haven't giggled or laughed or smiled in years,"
said Shirley Holland, department manager at Halifax Health Behavioral
Services, the local community mental health provider for children. "Once
we add medication, it's like the light goes on. They experience life in
a completely different way. It doesn't mean the burdens go away, but
life is not so heavy."
MORE CHILDREN BAKER-ACTED
Halifax Health Behavioral Services has seen the number of children
admitted under the Baker Act as a danger to themselves or others almost
triple in Volusia and Flagler in a three-year period. The agency treats
about 3,000 children in all its programs -- more than half are on
psychotropic medications.
The reasons behind the rise are unclear, but some point to children
being subjected to more stress at home.
Holland said it would be unusual about 20 years ago to see a 12-year-old
who was psychotic, hearing voices and hallucinating, but "they are
younger than that now."
"
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