If it were up to my husband, none of our children would be on medication. However, he isn’t the one that spends all day, everyday with them so he defers to me. Actually, before we began fostering children, I thought it was a parental copout to put children on mood altering medication. After two years of caring for traumatized children I changed my mind.

I take my teenage daughter to see her psychiatrist every two months for a medication reevaluation, whether we are seeking changes or not. That way we are able to get refills on our prescriptions without having to pay for them, and it helps cover my liability, because he interviews her each time. Some of you know how important that coverage can be, when parenting children who suffered previous abuse.

About six months ago, we decided to try it my husband’s way, and take her off her medications, except for her Adderall, which we doubled. With FAS, she has daily struggles with maintaining her concentration. At first, I thought it was going well, and maybe it was a good idea after all. She was able to get her schoolwork done in a reasonable amount of time, with average grades, which she hadn’t been achieving for most of the year.

Then some really strange things began to happen around our farm. Like when we found all the horses with new haircuts, which “nobody” did? Later, the teenager blamed the cutting on the four year old, who can’t even cut a straight line on paper, let alone on a horse’s tail. She folded some of my clothes and put them away in her dresser, she wears a one, and I don’t wear anything close to that.

We held out, until our scheduled appointment, hoping that with time she might control her improper impulses without the assistance of medication. Whenever she does anything naughty, she likes to tell me that her brain told her to do it. After discussing some of the episodes with her psychiatrist, he decided that she should go back on her Zyprexa.

More on Attachment disorders
Cutting Things-Living With FAS
What is FAS or FAE
We Have to Change Psychiatrist
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