Kids in Foster Care Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs at Higher Rates than Other Kids

So concludes a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that, for five states (FL, MA, MI, OR, TX), (1) compared rates of Medicaid-funded psychotropic prescriptions for foster and non-foster children and (2) examined federal and state oversight of these types of prescriptions through October 2011.

The authors found that in those states (chosen for geographic diversity and size of their foster care populations) foster children were prescribed such drugs at higher rates than non-foster children.

While acknowledging that foster children may have greater mental health care needs, the authors suggest that the science does not support children taking five or more of such drugs. Yet in all of the states, this practice was occurring for all children, not just those in foster care.

Despite these phenomena, the authors suggest that the states’ programs for monitoring psychotropic drugs prescribed for foster children fell short of best practice guidelines and recommended that states look to federal guidance to close any oversight gaps.