Same issue of USA Today has a side article entitled "For Foster Kids, Oversight of Prescriptions is Scarce." The article isn't lengthy, but does point out an incredible increase in foster children being prescribed antipsychotics.

This begs an obvious question for me:

Why are foster children more psychotic that other children?

It's the same kind of question as "why are there more foster children percentage-wise in EBD classrooms?" It's not that foster children are more "psychotic", it's just that their situations result in more problems - more likelihood of emotional disorders, more behavioral issues due to their early abuse, neglect and lack of permancy, more potential psychiatric disorders to inherit. It is overwhelming quite frankly!

The other troubling issue in this USA Today article is the reported lack of oversight when these children are prescribed these meds. Some of this is due to the overall difficulty of providing oversight to foster children, especially those who are moved frequently. Some may be due to the lack of qualified child psychiatrists, something I reported on recently. Often, maybe because of the shortage of specialists, these meds are prescribed by pediatricians or other doctors who are not specialists in psychiatric disorders.

Regardless of the "causes", foster kids are the losers, and the foster parents who love them lose as well. I have no answers this morning, only sadness for the plight of foster kids and their families.