In my opinion, this disclosure in general has been a long time coming. For me, exposing this is the "takeaway" good news of the month here in North Carolina.While it was posted in a Hickory, NC paper, by no means is my rant focused on this agency, limited to Hickory, or even to North Carolina.
Are some foster kids over-medicated? Interesting question. No-brainer answer. YES!!! (And it is even more despicable to watch the "system" rationalize it in all its steps!) That system (a true example of "trickle-down" ethics) is drenched in decisions of profit and convenience for the system, but with little respect for the welfare and highest good of the child. Truth be told, if a child's life and emotional well-being were not at stake, observing the dynamics is almost perversely humorous. Many "systemic sustainers" who love, at times, to use the monicker "healer" ... should hightail it for the Cannes movie festival!
With long experience working with foster care in this state, and observing the abuses from which "the system" dispassionately turns its eyes, I remain convinced that most foster care is a necessary evil.
Sitting in a case management meeting is a head-shaking experience, and is often a microcosm of the dysfunction of our culture. The motto might as well have been, "Save and accrue the buck, so that it passes state investigation (generally a travesty of a process anyway!), but the kid be damned!"
Any professional adult (mental health care, foster care and group home systems, social services, etc.) who interrupts this schizophrenic process is more at risk than one of the state's abused children. Many of these children, who are in a foster home due to a "stated" effort to save them from abusive homes, receive even more abuse in foster homes ... sexual and otherwise. Emotional abuse, because "we can't leave marks", is sometimes so horrific that one wonders how the child can put one single confident foot into the next day. To make matter even worse, when the kids' behaviors sometimes reflect the corruption of the systems, they again are harshly punished. The old "blame the victim" paradigm. The systemic efforts to cover up are interesting and oh-ever-so-slick!
If you are interested in less-than-unimpressive outcomes (and isn't that the operant word in federal and state care?!), give this site a glance. You may find yourselves shocked:
It was a rare foster parent with whom I worked whose TRUE caring for the children they had in their care, put the highest good of the child as a priority. Oh, they talked a good game, but were generally so transparent, the process was "Ridiculosity Unplugged"! It did not take ten minutes, combined with a good amount of intuition, to understand that the money (not insignificant, I might add) drove the foster parents. Many had up to 3-5 foster children in their home. Multiply what the parents get for that, along with benefits for the child, and you will begin to get the point. Of course, I get that it costs money to raise a child in any family, but when one really adds up the "change", outside of any foster parents' income, it is quite interesting! Many natural parents would be thrilled to be receiving the money and benefits into their family coffers.
