According to the Miami Herald  (May 8, 2009) consent from a parent was
not obtained on Florida foster kids when a psychiatric drug was used for
a non-psychiatric purpose.

Example: If the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa was used on a foster child
for "bed wetting" or some other non-psychiatric purpose - no consent
from a parent was obtained.

Therefore, the state did not include these drugs (non-psychiatric
purpose) when adding up the number of kids in foster care on psychiatric
drugs.

That is changing now - the state is now tallying up a more accurate
count of the number of foster kids on psychiatric drugs.

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**
*South Florida Sun-Sentinel*
*Number of foster children in Florida on mood-altering drugs
underreported, state study finds*
Jon Burstein
May 14, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE - The number of foster children in Florida prescribed
mood-altering drugs has been significantly underreported, according to
the early results of a statewide study sparked by a 7-year-old boy's
suicide in Margate.

The revelation came Thursday at the end of an intense, day-long hearing
by a panel appointed to scrutinize Gabriel Myers' tumultuous journey
through the child welfare system that ended with him hanging himself at
his foster home on April 16. Gabriel had been prescribed two
psychotropic drugs.

Since then, the state Department of Children & Families has been
reviewing case files on the more than 20,000 foster children in Florida.
Before Gabriel's death, just under 10 percent -- 1,954 -- were listed as
being on mood-altering drugs, said John Cooper, the department's acting
assistant secretary for operations.

That number will rise markedly when DCF releases the findings of its
current study next week, Cooper said.

"I don't know by how much, but it will be significant," he said.

In Gabriel's case, he only was listed in the database as being on
Adderall, an attention deficit/hyperactivity drug, that he had been
taken off of months before his death, said DCF Secretary George Sheldon.
The two drugs that Gabriel was taking when he died--Symbyax and
Vyvanse--had not been approved by either his parents or a judge--a
violation of state law.

Child welfare officials acknowledged that failure Thursday to the
six-member panel as they traced the last 10 months of Gabriel's life.
Throughout the eight-hour hearing, questions arose about communication
between social services providers and whether vital information about
Gabriel's behavior and background was being shared and acted upon quickly.

No one checked to see why Gabriel had been prescribed Adderall before
moving to Florida from Ohio or if he had been on any medications prior
to that. No one obtained a copy of his child welfare history from Ohio
until after his death.

In his last month, Gabriel saw his world turned upside down--going to a
new foster home, changing therapists, changing after-school programs and
his mother being transferred from the Broward County Jail to an Ohio
jail. His behavior worsened during that time with him destroying
property and threatening to hurt others.

"Was Gabriel spiraling out of his control or was his environment
spiraling out of control?" asked panel member Bill Janes, DCF assistant
secretary for substance abuse and mental health.

Sheldon, who attended part of Thursday's hearing, told the panel he
wants every aspect of Gabriel's case investigated and people held
accountable.

"We got to get every component of this system right," he said. "When you
deal with children, no one can have a bad day."

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