DSM-1, 1952: 106 disorders
DSM-II , 1968: 185 disorders
DSM-III, 1980: 265 disorders
DSM-IV, 1994: 357 disorders

It appears that the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 'ACYF' plans to continue allowing children in foster care to be drugged with psychiatric drugs even though there is ample evidence that this Standard Practice is not 'effectively treating' the psychiatric diagnoses the drugs are prescribed for. The standard clinical practice of using teratogenic psychiatric drugs is not based on sound ethical medical principles, and is not supported with definitive empirical data showing the drugs to be safe or efficacious for use on children. Using drugs which are not efficacious, that are known to be dangerous teratogens with fatal risks, without scientific evidence to validate the practice, is Human Experimentation. The plan to 'monitor' and provide 'oversight' of psychiatric drugs being used in what is essentially Human Experimentation on vulnerable foster children does not protect the children from further harm; this is a poor plan to say the very least...

This is not something that needs Federal 'oversight,' nor does it need to be 'monitored.'

IT NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!

via The Policy Lab at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

April 30, 2012

New PolicyLab Research Expands Understanding of Psychoactive Medication Use Among Children in Foster Care

A few months after the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the use of psychoactive drugs by children in foster care in five states, a national study from PolicyLab at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia describes prescription patterns over time in 48 states. The updated findings show the percentage of foster children taking antipsychotics--a class of psychoactive drugs associated with serious side effects for children-- continued to climb in the last decade. At the same time, a slight decline was seen in other psychoactive medication use, including the percentage of children receiving three or more classes of these medications at once (polypharmacy). here

via PR Newswire:

PRESS RELEASE

New research expands understanding of psychoactive medication use among children in foster care

a few excerpts:

"We're not saying these medications should never be used for children, but the high rate at which they're used by children in foster care indicates that other interventions and supports, such as trauma-based counseling, may not be in place for them. In other words, health care providers may not have other, non-medication, tools to offer families dealing with mental health concerns," said Rubin. "Responding to high and growing levels of antipsychotic use will not simply require efforts to restrict their use, but calls for larger investments in mental health programs that help these children cope with trauma psychologically."

"Prescription rates for both antipsychotic use and polypharmacy varied widely from state to state. Over the six-year period, antipsychotic use increased in all but three states. Conversely, 18 states showed an increase in polypharmacy, while 19 states showed decline and 11 no change. In 2007, states reported prescriptions of antipsychotics ranging from 2.8 percent to 21.7 percent of the foster care population, and from 0.5 percent to 13.6 percent for children receiving multiple classes of psychoactive drugs. The authors note, however, that it's not possible to use this study to compare states against one another.

"In illustrating both the national and state-specific trends in the use of psychoactive medications over time, we hope to provide a resource to officials at both the federal and state levels to help identify progress and prioritize intervention areas," noted Meredith Matone, MHS, a research scientist at PolicyLab who co-authored the study currently published online in the journal Children and Youth Services Review.

"Bryan Samuels, Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), said "the study's findings contribute to ongoing Federal efforts to improve the oversight and monitoring of psychoactive medications by providing a new snapshot in time on how these drugs were used in almost every state in the nation." ACYF, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, works across federal agencies and with the States to use the latest data and research to design and deliver the best health care services for vulnerable children.(emphasis mine)

"In August, ACYF will bring child welfare, mental health, and Medicaid leaders from all 50 States, DC, and Puerto Rico together to address the appropriate use of psychoactive medications in state foster care programs." read here