For Immediate Release
Contact: Rob Grant, Communications Director
202.966.7300, Ext. 119
rgrant@aacap.org
Washington, D.C., December 1, 2011 - The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) supports the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) recommendations to establish formal guidance to state welfare agencies on best practices for monitoring the use of psychotropic medications in children and adolescents in foster care agencies. AACAP is pleased that the GAO used our Position Statement on Oversight of Psychotropic Medication Use for Children in State Custody: A Best Principles Guideline for their study on select state foster care agencies' oversight programs. However, AACAP calls for further studies on other treatment options available to foster care children, and system-wide issues that may prevent optimal treatment for this vulnerable population.
"States have a duty to protect children in their care," said AACAP President Martin Drell, M.D. "However, the state must also take care not to reduce access to necessary and appropriate services. The use of coordinated community-based services should also be implemented to ensure comprehensive care, resulting in a unique set of services and supports individualized for that child and family."
Studies indicate that 60-85% of the children being served by the child welfare system meet criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis. Many of these children have had difficult early life experiences, including exposure to violence, abuse, trauma or neglect. Early detection and assessment of the mental health needs of these children is critical in order for them to receive necessary mental health interventions. However, despite their disproportionate mental health needs, most do not receive psychiatric care until their situation reaches a crisis point.
Treatment should include consideration of the full range of both psychosocial and psychopharmacologic interventions. Medication alone is rarely an adequate or appropriate intervention for children and adolescents with complex psychiatric disorders, including those in the foster care system. However, access to psychosocial interventions may be difficult, because of the lack of funding for effective interventions leaving medication as the only option.
In addition to establishing guidelines for the use of psychotropic medications for youth in state custody, state child welfare agencies should establish a program, in consultation with and administered by a child and adolescent psychiatrist, to oversee the utilization of comprehensive treatment plans including all psychosocial interventions and medications for youth in foster care.
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Representing over 8,500 child and adolescent psychiatrists nationwide, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is the leading authority on children's mental health.
AACAP Members actively research, diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders affecting children, adolescents and their families. For more information please visit www.aacap.org.
