This guest blog post was written by Abdifateh Ahmed.
Review of Tufts University, Health Sciences (2010, September 24). Psychotropic medication and youth in foster care report. ScienceDaily.
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In summary the article gives us insights on the subject of the use of medication for treating behavioral and mental health tribulations in foster care children. The article further, talks about how we should use medications as a help for the relief of child and not offered as an alternative to deal with children’s behavior and issues without considering or attempting non-medication options first. The article mentions the study that depicts a high psychotropic medication use amongst youth which doubled up over the decades and also further mentions foster children to be more likely on multiple medications “ranging from 13-52% than those in the general youth population 4%”. Psychotropic drugs that were prescribed include those used to treat ADHD, anxiety, depression and psychosis. There is a national approach to this issue and States are stepping up to take action on the problem of over medicated children since Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act was signed into law in 2008.
STRENGH

  • The article is balanced, fair and thoughtfully written to educate readers on the issues of overmedication or prescription of psychotropic medication for the children in foster care system.
  • The writer uses statistical evidences to support his augments in order to fairly convince his audiences.
  • The article mentions elements of federal law and state policies that were enacted as a result this subject.
  • Informed decision making and appropriate medication monitoring for children in foster care by the agencies in collaboration with system were emphasized.

LIMITATION

  • The language of the article is tailored for the most learned reader and not the for all ordinary readers, for example scientific word like “psychotropic” and the use abbreviations like ADHD is not easy for every reader to understand and in general it is fair to say that this is a scholastic article meant for research purpose.
  • The writer does not sound to be an active for this subject, neither he didn’t use an activist language that could invoke my attention, he sounded to be more sensitive to the topic which I don’t appreciate! I will love to hear phrase like “our children are at stake and overmedicated while in the hands of the system”.

In a nut-shell, the writer seems to be having a lot of experience as regards to multi-disciplinary knowledge and background both in child welfare, medical and policy issues. He neither mentions his support for adoption nor dispels the over-medication of youth in foster care.
WORK CITED
Tufts University, Health Sciences (2010, September 24). Psychotropic medication and youth in foster care report. ScienceDaily. Link here.