psych meds

In this Q&A, I interview San Jose Mercury News Investigative Reporter Karen de Sá about her explosive series on the psychotropic “drugging” of foster youth. De Sá  wrangled with gargantuan California state bureaucracies to access data that tells a startling story of the foster care system’s over-reliance on psychotropic drugs.

California is one of six states that place decisions concerning psychotropic medication of foster children in the hands of the juvenile court. In 1999 the legislature, at the urging of Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Judge Terry Friedman, enacted Senate Bill 543.

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.