Rense: Congress Passed Mandatory Child Screening for Mental Health

[Guest guest]

New Freedoms Commision of Mental Health?! Where is the freedom if

it is mandatory, and parents can not object? Especially when it

seems a very thinly disquised effort to puts kids on drugs, and not

just for bad behaviour, but as listed in another article here about

this- believing in the Constitution is reaason enough for a kid to

be drugged... It seems everytime " Freedom " is included in the name

of a bill, it means just the opposite!!

Other comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

 

Congress Funds Mandatory Psychological Tests for Kids

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2004/231104mandatorytest

s.htm

 

 

Newsmax | November 23 2004

 

One of the nation's leading medical groups, the Association of

American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS), decried a move by the U.S.

Senate to join with the House in funding a federal program AAPS says

will lead to mandatory psychological testing of every child in

America – without the consent of parents.

 

When the Senate considered an omnibus appropriations bill last week

that included funding for grants to implement universal mental

health screening for almost 60 million children, pregnant women and

adults through schools and pre-schools, it approved $20 million of

the $44 million sought, Kathryn Serkes, public affairs counsel for

AAPS, told NewsMax.

 

This $20 million matches a like amount already approved by the

House, Serkes advised.

 

While the funding cut of some $24 million was a little good news,

suggested Serkes, whose organization has zealously opposed the the

measure, she said the organization was most worried about the

failure of Congress to include " parental consent " language sought by

the AAPS.

 

Last September, AAPS lifetime member Rep. Ron Paul, M.D., R-Texas,

tried to stop the plan in its tracks by offering an amendment to the

Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Act for FY 2005. The

amendment received 95 " yes " votes, but it failed to pass.

 

According to Serkes, Paul is now mulling offering stand-alone

legislation in the next session to once again try and get a

provision for parental consent.

 

The federal bill on its face does not require mandatory mental

health testing to be imposed upon states or local schools, explained

Serkes.

 

However, the HHS appropriations bill contains block grant money that

will likely be used – as is often the case with block funding – by

the various states to implement mandatory psychological testing

programs for all students in the school system.

 

 

The spending bill has its roots in the recommendations of the New

Freedom Commission on Mental Health, created by President Bush in

2002 to propose ways of eliminating waste and improve efficiency and

effectiveness of the mental health care delivery system.

 

Although the report does not specifically recommend screening all

students, it does suggest that " schools are in a key position to

identify the mental health problems early and to provide a link to

appropriate services. "

 

The bottom line, explained Serkes, is that a state receiving money

under this appropriation will likely make its mental testing of kids

mandatory – and not be out of synch with the federal enactment.

 

The other telling point, said Serkes, is that although the

relatively minimal funding at this point is certainly not enough to

fund mandatory mental testing for kids countrywide, it's an ominous

start:

 

" Once it's established and has funding, a program exhibits the

nettlesome property of being self-sustaining – it gets a life of its

own. More funding follows. "

 

Officials of the AAPS decry in the measure what they see as " a

dangerous scheme that will heap even more coercive pressure on

parents to medicate children with potentially dangerous side

effects. "

 

One of the most " dangerous side effects " from antidepressants

commonly prescribed to children is suicide, regarding which AAPS

added, " Further, even the government's own task force has concluded

that mental health screening does little to prevent suicide. "

 

Meanwhile, Rep. Paul says the mental testing scheme is a looming

feature of " Big Brother " that if unchecked will push parental rights

out of the picture:

 

" At issue is the fundamental right of parents to decide what medical

treatment is appropriate for their children. The notion of federal

bureaucrats ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take

psychotropic drugs like Ritalin strikes an emotional chord with

American parents, who are sick of relinquishing more and more

parental control to government.

 

" Once created, federal programs are nearly impossible to eliminate.

Anyone who understands bureaucracies knows they assume more and more

power incrementally. A few scattered state programs over time will

be replaced by a federal program implemented in a few select cities.

Once the limited federal program is accepted, it will be expanded

nationwide. Once in place throughout the country, the screening

program will become mandatory.

 

" Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state as

mental illness. It now seems our own federal government wants to

create a therapeutic nanny state, beginning with schoolchildren.

It's not hard to imagine a time 20 or 30 years from now when

government psychiatrists stigmatize children whose religious,

social, or political values do not comport with those of the

politically correct, secular state.

 

" American parents must do everything they can to remain responsible

for their children's well-being. If we allow government to become

intimately involved with our children's minds and bodies, we will

have lost the final vestiges of parental authority. Strong families

are the last line of defense against an overreaching bureaucratic

state. "

 

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