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Sound Off on Psych MedsAdvocating for prudent medication use

Children in foster care use psychotropic drugs at an extremely high rate.

Researchers examined prescription claims data between September 1, 2004 -August 31, 2005 for children enrolled in Texas foster care. Of  the 37,052 foster children aged 0-17 eligible for Medicaid during FY 2005, 12,842 (34.7 percent) received a psychoactive medication. The table below displays psychiatric medication use broken down by age.

Psychoactive Medication* Use in Texas Foster Care Children for FY 2005

Age
Percentage
0-2 3.9%
3 19.3%
4-5 32.6%
6-12 55.3%
13-17 66.5%

*Most common drugs prescribed were antidepressants, antipsychotics and stimulants.

Tags:

Antipsychotic medication, Antidepressant medication, Stimulant medication, Children’s mental health, Foster care, Medicaid

Citation:

Texas Health and Human Services Commission. 2006. Use of psychoactive medication in Texas foster children, state fiscal year 2005.