Publication year: 2010
Source: Children and Youth Services Review, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 3 November 2010
Jeffrey, Longhofer , Jerry, Floersch , Nate, Okpych
Foster care children are prescribed psychotropic medications at rates significantly higher than same-aged peers. Concerns about the safety of psychoactive chemicals on developing bodies and potential misuses with foster care populations have led to varied and complex responses by the media, lawmakers, and researchers. First, we look at how foster youth are prescribed psychoactive substances, including polypharmacy (sometimes called concomitant prescription), and at the mounting and major responses by federal and state governments. Second, we consider a recent parameter published by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry which offers guidelines on decision-making for prescribers of psychotropic medications to…