{"id":1128,"date":"2017-06-12T17:46:35","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T23:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/?p=1128"},"modified":"2024-07-14T05:40:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-14T10:40:26","slug":"missouri-foster-care-class-action-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/2017\/06\/12\/missouri-foster-care-class-action-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Foster Care Class Action Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"post-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">LANDMARK FEDERAL LAWSUIT CHARGES MISSOURI WITH PERVASIVE FAILURE TO MONITOR THE PRESCRIPTION AND ADMINISTRATION OF POWERFUL PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS TO FOSTER YOUTH<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"content-style cf\">\n<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n<p>PRESS CONTACTS:<br \/>\nHolly Aubry; <a href=\"mailto:haubry@childrensrights.org\">haubry@childrensrights.org<\/a>; 646.943.0541<br \/>\nLewis Cohen; <a href=\"mailto:lcohen@youthlaw.org\">lcohen@youthlaw.org<\/a>; 510.835.8098, ext 3045<br \/>\nJessica Lillie Ciccone: <a href=\"mailto:lillieciccone@slu.edu\">lillieciccone@slu.edu<\/a>; 314.977.7248<\/p>\n<p>JUNE 12, 2017 \u2013 JEFFERSON\u00a0CITY, MO. \u2013 Watchdogs Children\u2019s Rights, National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) and Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Clinics have today filed a landmark, civil rights complaint against Jennifer Tidball, Acting State Director of the Missouri Department of Social Services and Tim Decker, Director of the Children\u2019s Division of DSS, on behalf of all minor children and youth who are or will be placed in Missouri\u2019s foster care custody.<\/p>\n<p>The first class action lawsuit to shine a federal spotlight solely on the overuse of psychotropic medications among vulnerable, at risk populations \u2013 such as Missouri\u2019s 13,000 children in foster care \u2013 the complaint alleges longstanding, dangerous, unlawful and deliberately indifferent practices by the defendants, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Failure to ensure that powerful psychotropic drugs are administered to children safely and only when necessary<\/li>\n<li>Failure to maintain complete and current medical records for children in foster care and to provide those records to foster parents and health providers to ensure effective and well-informed treatment<\/li>\n<li>Failure to maintain a secondary review system to identify and address high risk and outlier prescriptions to children when they occur<\/li>\n<li>Failure to assure and document meaningful, informed consent in relation to the administration of these drugs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cChildren in Missouri foster care are routinely being placed on psychotropic drugs without adequate safeguards in place. The foster care system\u2019s abject failure to oversee and closely monitor the use of these powerful drugs exposes Missouri\u2019s most vulnerable citizens to serious, and even permanent injury,\u201d explains Sara Bartosz, Deputy Director of Litigation Strategy at Children\u2019s Rights. \u201cIt\u2019s a systemic violation of children\u2019s constitutional right to be free from harm while in state custody. Missouri must do far better by its children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Bill Grimm, Directing Attorney of Child Welfare at NCYL, \u201cFor foster children, psychotropic medications, especially antipsychotics, are often used as chemical restraints and not to treat the limited illnesses for which the FDA has approved their use in children. Few children, even those children and adolescents in foster care, suffer from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder \u2013 the predominant diagnoses for which antipsychotics have FDA approval for use with children. Yet antipsychotics are some of the most frequently prescribed drugs given to foster children. This is what we\u2019re seeing in Missouri. It\u2019s an outlier, and children\u2019s lives are at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Given the lack of research on the safe and appropriate use of psychotropic medications in children, it is of particular concern when children are exposed to \u201coutlier\u201d prescribing practices: being given medications that are not approved by the FDA for use in children, combining multiple psychotropic medications, dosages that exceed recommended amounts, or given these drugs at a very young age.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lack of oversight and coordination of care in Missouri is disturbing,\u201d adds co-counsel, John Ammann, professor and supervisor in the Legal Clinics at SLU LAW. \u201cFoster youth endure incomprehensible trauma and abuse, but rather than receiving therapeutic counseling and mental health support to treat underlying issues, they are too frequently given powerful psychotropic medications to control their behavior. The foster children of Missouri deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese children are being prescribed too many powerful and potentially dangerous drugs, at unacceptable dosages and at too young an age. The federal government has cautioned strongly against these practices. It\u2019s time that Missouri is held accountable to the children in its care it promised to protect,\u201d states Sara Bartosz.<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<p>ABOUT CHILDREN\u2019S RIGHTS<br \/>\nFighting to transform America\u2019s failing child welfare, juvenile justice, education and healthcare systems is one of the most important social justice movements of our time. Through strategic advocacy and legal action, Children\u2019s Rights holds state governments accountable to America\u2019s most vulnerable children. A national watchdog organization since 1995, Children\u2019s Rights fights to protect and defend the rights of young people, because we believe that children have the right to the best possible futures. For more information, please visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.childrensrights.org\/\">www.childrensrights.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ABOUT NATIONAL CENTER FOR YOUTH LAW<br \/>\nThe National Center for Youth Law is a non-profit law firm that helps low-income children achieve their potential by transforming the public agencies that serve them. For more information, please visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youthlaw.org\/\">www.youthlaw.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ABOUT SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW LEGAL CLINICS<br \/>\nFor more than for 40 years the Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Clinics have created a tradition of social justice by providing invaluable legal services to the greater St. Louis community. Dedicated to the University\u2019s Jesuit mission of advocating for the disadvantaged and the betterment of the community at large, the Legal Clinics provide unique and challenging opportunities in a supportive experiential learning environment for every student who desires a clinical experience, please visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/law.slu.edu\/clinics\">law.slu.edu\/clinics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[http:\/\/www.childrensrights.org\/press-release\/landmark-federal-lawsuit-charges-missouri-with-pervasive-failure-to-monitor-the-prescription-and-administration-of-powerful-psychotropic-medications-to-foster-youth\/]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANDMARK FEDERAL LAWSUIT CHARGES MISSOURI WITH PERVASIVE FAILURE TO MONITOR THE PRESCRIPTION AND ADMINISTRATION OF POWERFUL PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS TO FOSTER YOUTH FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACTS: Holly Aubry; haubry@childrensrights.org; 646.943.0541 Lewis Cohen; lcohen@youthlaw.org; 510.835.8098, ext 3045 Jessica Lillie Ciccone: lillieciccone@slu.edu; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/2017\/06\/12\/missouri-foster-care-class-action-lawsuit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[27,59,77],"class_list":["post-1128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-muddy-river-newsletter","category-press-releases","tag-foster-children","tag-missouri","tag-psychiatric-drugs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NMpC-ic","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}