research on overmedication of foster children

There are over 500,000 children currently in the foster care system and according to the child welfare league of America more that half have mental illness or serious behavioral problems. I will be posting an MSNBC report from 2007 that has answered the majority of my questions about what the courts are doing to ensure the safety of these children. I found that many states have implemented policies that requires court review of any psychiatric drugs that are prescribed to foster children. Every state has either passed or has a proposed bill to have legal review of medications prescribed to foster children. Although this is a sign of progress, legislators believe that it will be very difficult to have proper oversight of these programs. The issue of medication of foster children will become more prevalent in our legal system as public outrage builds over cases of overdose and suicide of foster children. If you would like to read more about the issue, i have posted several articles on my links section including the MSNBC report.