FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A Florida panel of state child-welfare authorities says foster children in the state are frequently given drugs by caregivers to curb unruly behavior.
The child-welfare panel said in a report, which could be released to the public this month, that Florida caregivers have used strong mind-altering medications on unruly children in state custody rather than focusing on psychiatric treatment, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.
"Psychotherapeutic medications are often being used to help parents, teachers and other child workers quiet and manage, rather than treat, children,'' the state officials said in the new report."
"We have not clearly articulated the standard of psychiatric care expected for children in state foster care."
The panel's findings are in response to the 2009 suicide of a 7-year-old foster child in Broward County, Fla.
The Herald said Gabriel Myers used a detachable shower hose to hang himself at his foster home on April 16. The panel found the young boy had been given psychotropic medications to deal with sexually inappropriate behaviors, but that treatment occurred without the required consent.
