Foster Kids on Mind-Altering Drugs?

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Fri, 12 Nov 2004 19:46:36 -0500

Subject:[sSRI-Research] Foster Kids on Mind Altering Drugs?

 

http://www.woai.com/troubleshooters/story.aspx?content_id=168321B6-DF50-4A2F-83D\

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Foster Kids on Mind-Altering Drugs?

 

LAST UPDATE: 11/11/2004 5:25:04 PM

Posted By: Mandi Bishop

TroubleShooters

 

Watch This Story:

http://video.woai.com/viewer/viewerpage.php?Art_ID=55809 & tf=woaiviewer.tpl

 

Why would a child as young as three years old ever be on mind-altering

drugs? For the past eight months, the News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters have

poured through reams of state documents and discovered thousands of foster

kids appear to be on powerful psychotropic drugs. Many of these

children are

barely in kindergarten. Some are mere toddlers.

 

" We didn't even know he was in the hospital until he called us from Laurel

Ridge himself, " a woman we'll refer to as " Magdalana " tells us. We're

disguising her name in order to protect the identity of her six year old

grandson she's referring to.

 

She says he was confined to a psychiatric hospital following a temper

tantrum when he called his grandmother for help.

 

" I mean he was like, " Magdalana describes, " maybe you could say he looked

more like a zombie. "

 

News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Tanji Patton asks, " How could you tell by

looking at him that he was on medication? " Magdalana answers, " His

attitude,

his eyes, his way of speech. All that. "

 

Magdalana says a nurse confirmed her fears. Her grandchild was on 2

different psychotropic or mind-altering drugs, plus benadryl to help him

sleep. As it turns out, Magdalana's grandchild isn't alone.

 

A sampling of state records released by the State Comptroller's office

shows

two out of three foster kids in texas appear to be on psychotropic

meds. The

Medicaid prescription records are from November of last year and show that

many kids are taking two or more of these drugs.

 

At the risk of losing her job, a Child Protective Services worker spoke to

the Trouble Shooters following a hearing by State Rep. Carlos Uresti last

month. She talked about one child on seventeen different medications.

That's

right. Seventeen!

 

" I think he had three to four psychotropic medications in addition to the

Depakote, in addition to Zoloft, in addition to Trazadone to help him

sleep. " Some of these drugs the FDA states are not even safe for kids. " He

did need medications, " she continues, " But I had concerns about how could

this child require seventeen different medications. "

 

What's perhaps even more alarming, child advocates say, are the ages

of the

kids. The Trouble Shooters obtained a never before released study that

tracks the ages of the foster kids on these drugs during a one month

period

of time. At least 300 of these children are under the age of seven.

 

Tanji Patton recently asked the President and CEO of the Children's

Shelter

in San Antonio, Jack Downey, " How big a problem do you think this is? "

 

Downey says, " I think it's far larger than you or I or anyone else

suspects. " This longtime advocate for children says his heart aches

when he

talks about the cases. He shared the story of one family he remembers in

particular.

 

" We had a wonderful family of 5 boys, " Downey recalls, " If they walked in

right now you'd love them to death. " The oldest was ten. The youngest

was 3.

" We were directed by the state to take the boys to a psychiatrist, " Downey

says. " We did and they all came back on three meds...those boys no more

needed meds than I did. "

 

Patton asks, " Every child? " Downey replies, " Every child. " So, why would a

three year old need to be on psychotropic medications? " I have no idea. He

was just the jolliest little kid, " Downey tells us.

 

Who is prescribing these meds? You would think psychiatrists, right? Well,

after poring through thousands of documents, the News 4 WOAI Trouble

Shooters found that's not always the case. Many are family practitioners.

 

State records show one of the biggest prescribers in San Antonio is a

radiologist. Sure it's legal, but what does a radiologist know about a

child's mental health?

 

The Trouble Shooters also found some of these doctors have documented drug

problems of their own. One case is Dr. Charles Sargent, a San Antonio

psychiatrist. He's listed as one of the state's top prescribers of

antidepressants to kids on Medicaid. The records we obtained show he also

prescribes stimulants and powerful antipsychotics.

 

The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners put Dr. Sargent on probation in

recent months because state records show he was busted for prescribing

narcotics to himself, his girlfriend and her son. As part of his

probation,

he must submit to random drug testing.

 

He declined our request for an on-camera interview, but told me by

phone the

anti-depressant he prescribes is one that does have FDA approval for kids.

He did not return our call questioning his suspension with the state

medical

board.

 

Another doctor who shows up as a frequent prescriber on state records

is Dr.

Benny Fernandez, the medical director at Laurel Ridge Psychiatric

Hospital.

Dr. Fernandez says his practice is primarily treating foster kids. He says

psychotropics are necessary for a lot of these kids.

 

" I think the way we are moving now is using them as a last resort if we

can, " Dr. Fernandez tells Tanji Patton. Patton asks, " When you see

more than

60% in one month period, that was looked at on medications, do you think

it's being used as a last resort? "

 

Dr. Fernandez replies, " Well, those numbers seem a little bit high. " When

asked if he thought too many kids have been put on these medications, he

says, " I wish those numbers would go down and that's what we need to focus

our energy and efforts in making sure that the medications, when they are

used, are used appropriately and there's a careful diagnostic evaluation. "

 

That's not what many of the former foster kids i spoke to say happened to

them. Chris Brown says " I was on a number of different medications. " Marie

Garcia even recalls some of the pills she took, " Zoloft, Paxil,

Wellbutrin,

Depakote. "

 

Ken Coleman goes as far as to say, " I was on 7 different medications at

once. "

While Texas is just beginning to deal with this controversy, we headed

to a

state that began tackling the issue years ago. Child advocates in Florida

have been trying to get laws passed to protect children from being over

medicated. So far, they haven't been successful. They blame the

doctors and

pharmaceutical companies who've lobbied against them.

 

" We don't deal with the problems these kids have. We give them a

pill, " says

Dr. Tony Appel, a neuropsychologist or brain specialist who was one of the

expert child advocates in Florida we went to for help. We showed her the

records we uncovered here in Texas.

 

Tanji Patton asks, " Does it look like the kids are being treated for

behavior control or mental illness? "

 

Dr. Tony Appel replies, " I don't think they're treating mental

illness. Not

in these kids. "

 

Tanji says, " Psychiatrists and people on the other side will say

'these are

sick kids. I mean these are kids who've been sexually abused..they need

medication.' "

 

Dr. Tony Appel explains, " Being sexually abused makes you a victim. It

doesn't make you sick. "

 

So, what does she think these drugs are doing to these kids? " We're taking

away their future. We're taking away their ability to relate to people;

trust, love caring, ability to put yourself in the other person's

shoes and

see how they see you. We take all that away from these children. We blunt

their emotion. "

 

Most experts we talked to agree that some children absolutely need

medication, but all say Child Protective Service, doctors and caregivers

need to be more careful when deciding whether to use those medications.

 

Comptroller Carroll Keeton Strayhorn first brought this issue to the

attention of state authorities this spring.

 

We asked to speak to Governor Perry about the controversy but a spokesman

declined, saying the state is investigating CPS as a whole and cannot

comment until the investigation is completed.

 

If you'd like to e-mail reporter Tanji Patton about this issue, email her

at:

 

troubleshooters