psychiatric

By the time Skylar was a teenager, his mother was serving a life sentence for manslaughter. His biological father was homeless, addicted to drugs and completely uninvolved in his life. As a result, Skylar began to spiral into destructive behaviors, such as theft, assault and defiance toward authority.

Adela Carranco was just 11 years old when her mother discovered she was planning to kill herself. Her suicidal intentions were tapped out in cold detail on her cell phone, from options for ending her life  — take pills, get run over, or slit her wrists — to notes saying goodbye to loved ones.

A federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit regarding alleged overuse of psychotropic medication by Missouri’s child welfare agency. United States District Judge Nanette Laughrey announced in a decision dated July 19 that the plaintiffs in the case will include “all children in … foster care custody who presently are, or will be, prescribed or administered one or more psychotropic medications while in state care.”

The Imprint is highlighting each of the policy recommendations made this summer by the participants of the Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI), a group of 12 former foster youths who completed congressional internships.