From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Jay Rosenthal – https://www.americaoutloud.com/can-bad-parents-be-better-than-foster-care/
Children are our most precious gifts and we appreciate that the state and federal government recognizes the importance of keeping them safe. In 1974, Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). The Act gives federal dollars to the states for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of child “maltreatment.” CAPTA defines child maltreatment as serious harm caused to children by parents or primary caregivers, such as extended family members or babysitters. Child maltreatment also can include harm that a caregiver allows to happen to a child or does not prevent from happening.
Any concerned person—even anonymously—can report suspicions of child abuse or neglect. Health care professionals as well as many others are mandated by state law to report their suspicions of child abuse in its many forms to the government. Examples are physical abuse (which does not include physical discipline), sexual abuse, emotional abuse, abandonment, parental substance abuse. Neglect is by far the most common form of child maltreatment. It can include physical, educational, medical, and emotional neglect. It is important to note that living in poverty is not considered child abuse or neglect.
Confidentiality, or “privileged communications,” is a core ethical principle of medicine. However mandatory reporting statutes in most states do not allow this privilege to be grounds for failing to report.
Child Protective Services (CPS) is legally obligated to investigate every report, even false ones. Many times, children are sent to foster care during the investigation. But foster care may not be the best solution for many reasons. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of foster care records from 2008 in five representative states found that 39 percent of foster children are being prescribed psychiatric medications in contrast to 10 percent of non-foster children. Although the actual percentages of children who received five or more psychiatric drugs concurrently were low, foster children were on average 25 times more likely than non-foster children to be prescribed five or more medications, despite the increased medical risk for children. Foster children were also over nine times more likely than non-foster children to be prescribed drugs in doses exceeding FDA-approved maximum levels. Certainly, children entering foster care likely have more emotional and behavioral issues than do non-foster children but drugs may be viewed as less time consuming and less costly than more behavioral therapy.
My guest today will discuss the process and how targets of an investigation can protect their children from the long arms of the government.
