One in four foster kids on risky mind drugs

[Guest guest]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10650879.htm?1c

 

 

The Miami Herald dot Com

Posted on Sat, Jan. 15, 2005

 

 

 

R E L A T E D L I N K S

• Read the full report

 

 

CHILD WELFARE

 

 

 

One in four foster kids on risky mind drugs

 

A state senator fears foster children are being used as 'guinea pigs'

by doctors who prescribe them powerful mood-altering drugs.

 

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

 

cmarbin

 

Nearly 1,900 children under the care of Florida's child welfare system

are taking antidepressant drugs, despite a strong federal warning that

such medications are linked to an increased risk of suicidal thinking

among children.

 

One in four Florida foster children are taking at least one

mood-altering drug, and nearly one in 10 are taking at least three

psychiatric drugs simultaneously, a drug cocktail that many doctors

and advocates claim can be particularly dangerous.

 

Nearly 2,100 children in care are taking powerful antipsychotic drugs.

 

These findings are part of a comprehensive study of the use of

psychotropic drugs among Florida children in state care, launched

after advocates and lawmakers questioned the safety and wisdom of the

state's practices.

 

The study, conducted by the Department of Children & Families, is the

first time child welfare officials have acknowledged the widespread,

statewide use of mental health drugs.

 

`GUINEA PIGS'

 

''This is a unique population, and I hate to see them used as guinea

pigs,'' state Sen. Evelyn J. Lynn, an Ormond Beach Republican, said

Tuesday at a meeting of the Senate Children & Families committee.

 

Sen. Walter G. ''Skip'' Campbell, a Tamarac Democrat who chairs the

committee, said he will introduce a bill in coming weeks to curb the

practice.

 

The controversy over the use of mental health drugs began in 2001,

when a Coral Springs child advocate, Andrea Moore, wrote a letter to a

DCF administrator accusing the department of using psychotropic drugs

as ''chemical restraints'' for difficult-to-manage foster kids.

 

On Tuesday, the Children & Families committee's staff director,

Beverly Whiddon, acknowledged the study largely confirmed such fears.

 

''There is evidence that some children in the care of the [DCF] are

prescribed psychotropic medications simply to address behavioral

problems,'' Whiddon said.

 

DCF's top child welfare official, Beth Englander, told committee

members that children taken into state care are evaluated for mental

illness or emotional disturbance within a few days, and caseworkers

seek consent from either a parent or a judge before allowing the use

of psychiatric drugs.

 

''There are many other interventions besides medications,'' Englander

said.

 

''The prescribing of these medications is a matter the department

takes seriously,'' DCF spokesman Tim Bottcher told The Herald Friday.

 

``We are taking aggressive actions to help assure the appropriate and

informed use of medications coupled with other effective treatments

and support services for children with mental disorders.''

 

Many of the mood-altering drugs, including potent anti-psychotic drugs

such as Risperdal, have never been proven to be either safe or

effective for children.

 

Among the study's findings:

 

• The state's expenditures for mental health drugs have nearly tripled

between budget years 2001 and 2005, and taxpayers are expected to

spend $680 million for psychiatric drugs this budget year.

 

• Consultants hired by the state found they had ''questions about the

appropriateness'' of mental health drugs given to 1,273 children in

state care, Richard C, Surles, who heads Comprehensive Neuroscienece

in White Plains, N.Y., told the committee. The consultants wrote

letters to 442 doctors telling them they had engaged in ``a

questionable practice.''

 

QUESTIONABLE ACTIONS

 

Some of the questionable practices, Surles said, included prescribing

more than one anti-psychotic drug to the same child, prescribing two

or more stimulant drugs to the same child, prescribing three or more

drugs for more than 45 days, or prescribing ''very high doses'' of

anti-psychotic drugs.

 

• Few standards exist in Florida, or throughout the United States, for

the proper use and dosage of mental health drugs among children and

adolescents. And judges throughout the state who have been asked to

provide consent for the use of mental health drugs told a consultant

they were confused about their role.

 

''We must have true informed consent,'' Dr. Martin Lazoritz, associate

chairman of the Psychiatry Department at the University of Florida's

medical school, told the committee.

 

George Hibbert, an 18-year-old Liberty City man who left foster care

last year, said he feels much better since he stopped taking the

mental health drugs that were prescribed to him during the 15 or so

years he was in foster care.

 

''They made me feel drowsy,'' Hibbert said. ``They made me drool.... ''

 

Moore, the advocate who sparked the debate nearly four years ago, who

is now director of Florida's Children First, said the report

vindicated the concerns of Florida child advocates.

 

''What is happening to these children is tragic,'' she said.

 

Herald staff writer Tina Cummings contributed to this report.