UPDATE: Doped up foster child in Florida hangs himself. He was seven.
By: Barbara Hollingsworth
Local Opinion Editor
06/04/09 12:05 AM EDT
Seven-year-old Gabriel Myers was found hanged in the bathroom of his foster home in Margate, FL. He had been taking Symbyax, an anti-psychotic medication. Here's the link:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090602/COLUMNIST/906021041/2127?Title=In-another-tragic-death-another-lesson-for-DCF
Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon confirmed that the agency had no parental or court permission to put Gabriel on this highly potent psychotropic drug, as the law requires. DCF didn't have any record of the boy's prescription, even though the drug's side effects include "increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children, adolescents and young adults."
Sheldon's subsequent investigation revealed that more than 2,600 foster children in Florida are being doped up - with one in six lacking the legally required consent forms. Children trapped in these state-run "child welfare" programs are being doped up to keep them docile and easy to manage while the adults in charge thumb their noses at the law and cash the checks.
This is beyond disgusting. It's criminal.
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