overmedication

By Isaac Smith After a year of scathing indictments by the media and advocates concerning the overuse of psychotropic drugs on foster children, the legislature responded with a flood of bills aimed at strengthening the safeguards for the prescription of psychological medications to foster youth.

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times addressed what some suggest is the over-medication of children in the Los Angeles County foster care system. Certainly this is a significant issue, and indeed, if children are being overmedicated, it must be addressed.

This article is adapted from an earlier piece that ran in the San Jose Mercury News. By Adam Pertman and Graham Wright It is heartening to hear that California’s Legislature may finally address the chronic overuse of psychotropic medications for children in foster care in that state, a problem that unfortunately exists from coast to coast.

The National Center on Youth Law (NCYL) is calling on foster youth, child welfare leaders and others involved in the lives of youth in care to join a campaign to end the excessive use of psychotropic drugs.