Foster kids fight for extracurricular activities
AUSTIN, Texas – Foster parents pushing for the passage of Senate Bill 1407 testified alongside former foster kids Tuesday in a health and human services committee.
Foster care kids put on too many psych drugs, report says – CBS News
Many children in foster care are being overmedicated with antipsychotic drugs they may not really need, or the drugs are being given incorrectly, according to a government review obtained by CBS News.
Second-Generation Antipsychotic Drug Use Among Medicaid-Enrolled Children: Quality-of-Care Concerns Report (OEI-07-12-00320) 03-25-2015
Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are a class of drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and psychotic depression. SGAs are widely used to treat children enrolled in Medicaid who have mental health conditions. However, SGAs can have serious side effects and little clinical research has been conducted on the safety of treating children with these drugs.
Texas System Failure for Foster Children – Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Children are our most precious resource and the foster children of Texas need special attention because the state has taken either temporary or permanent guardianship of them in effect making the state and all of its citizens their parent.
Abbott to Foster Care Agency: Get Your Act Together | The Texas Tribune
In the wake of three child deaths under the state’s ward so far this year, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday told the Department of Family and Protective Services to straighten up and fly right.
Lawmakers Try to Bring Order to Disastrously Lax Foster Care Training System – Texas Observer
This session, lawmakers are trying to fix one of the biggest gaps in the troubled foster care system: The training requirements for the majority of foster parents, kinship caregivers and adoptive parents are minimal, and the state doesn’t know how closely private placement agencies are adhering to the standards.
Texas foster care deaths addressed in house committee | KXAN.com
AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than a dozen Texas children have died in foster care in the past two years. A string of deaths in Central Texas helped highlight the lack of oversight and accountability the state has in protecting children. A bill by Representative Cindy Burkett, R-Sunnyvale, hopes to raise the standards of care. The House Committee on Human Services will hear HB 781 Monday.
KHN: Children in Foster Care Missing Checkups | The Texas Tribune
Nearly a third of children in foster care have missed required medical checkups, according to a Health and Human Services Department Office of the Inspector General report. The report looked at Texas as well as California, Illinois and New York, and found that 12 percent missed initial checkups and another 7 percent missed required periodic medical assessments.