SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG
Read and share the extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change
Indiscriminate Use of Psychotropics among Children in Foster Care Is a National Disgrace
Because of the success of our lawsuit, Missouri will now begin implementing reforms to protect these children: medical records will be monitored; doctors and caregivers, with real input from youth, will vet the risks and the benefits of medication before it is administered; and an independent child psychiatrist will be available to provide secondary review of prescriptions for efficacy and safety.
Judge Rules Texas Foster Care System Unconstitutional
In her Dec. 17 ruling against Texas' foster care system, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack was scathing. For more than two decades, she wrote, the state has created a situation where "children have been shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm."
I was one of those children. I was born in Dumas, deep in the heart of West Texas. I entered the foster care system shortly before my 10th birthday. My mother was an addict — meth being her drug of choice — and would routinely beat me when she was high.