Font Size

Local News

CBS4.com Top Videos

Super Bowl Ad: Snickers & Betty White

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Report: Medication System Failing Foster Kids

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Jul 7, 2009 10:42 am US/Eastern

Report: Medication System Failing Foster Kids

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old Broward boy who hanged himself in the shower of his foster home.
Miami Herald

Close

numSlides of totalImages

I-Team: DCF Drug Rules For Foster Children Ignored
(6/10/2009)
Panel To Investigate Boy's Death In Foster Care
(6/7/2009)
S. Fla. Family Sues Psychiatrist for Son's Death
(6/4/2009)
I-Team: Charges Could Be Brought In Boy's Hanging
(5/14/2009)
I-Team: DCF Probes Drugs Prescribed To Foster Kids
(4/30/2009)

The system meant to protect children in foster care failed because doctors and case managers routinely failed to complete treatment plans, failed to share information, or properly document the usage of powerful psychiatric drugs, according to the Department of Children and Families. One of the children that it failed was 7-year-old Gabriel Myers, who hanged himself in April.

However, the study also said it would be a mistake to blame Gabriel's death solely on the drug Symbyax. The drug is an antipsychotic used to treat bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. It can also be used as a treatment for clinical depression if two other drugs have failed to treat the depression.

The study from DCF said that numerous rule and laws on meds for children in foster care weren't followed for all 6 and 7 year olds, according to CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. Among the other findings reported:

In 86 percent of cases, the prescribing physician didn't complete what's known as a Psychotherapeutic Medication Treatment Plan, which helps case workers, legal guardians, judges and other physicians determine a child's mental well being.
In 76 percent of the cases, the case worker didn't provide parents with information about the psychotropic drugs their kids were being prescribed. Nor did the case worker help arrange transportation or phone conversations between the doctor and the child's guardian.
In 89 percent of the cases where parental consent wasn't obtained to medicate children, case managers failed to inform state lawyers that they were seeking a court order to administer the medication.

The study comes one year after a similar review that examined the drugging of children in state care under the age of 6. The committee probing the child-welfare system plans to issue a report by Aug. 20.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)