SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG

Read and share extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change

Class Action Protects Maine Foster Youth from Dangerous Risks of Psychotropics
Class Actions, Foster Care, Psychotropics Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Actions, Foster Care, Psychotropics Teddy Basham-Witherington

Class Action Protects Maine Foster Youth from Dangerous Risks of Psychotropics

Psychotropics can be a meaningful and effective treatment for children with mental health conditions when administered appropriately, but administering them without informed consent, proper oversight, or review can lead to serious, and sometimes life-threatening, consequences. The reforms achieved in the settlement in Bryan C. v. Lambrew are paramount for protecting foster youth. The work of Children’s Rights has ensured that children just like Bryan C. are free of unnecessary and harmful prescriptions and that their voices are heard.

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  Class Action Advances the Welfare of 6,000 Foster Children in West Virginia
Class Actions, Foster Care Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Actions, Foster Care Teddy Basham-Witherington

Class Action Advances the Welfare of 6,000 Foster Children in West Virginia

The West Virginia child welfare agency that was supposed to protect foster child, Jonathan, has failed.  Last month, in a huge step forward, the case was certified as a class action, meaning that the case is now proceeding not only on behalf of Jonathan, but on behalf of all children in foster care in West Virginia. The children’s lawyers now have the opportunity to prove that children in the West Virginia foster care system are being subjected to an “unreasonable risk of harm,” which the state is constitutionally barred from inflicting on children.  

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Indiscriminate Use of Psychotropics among Children in Foster Care Is a National Disgrace
Foster Care, Psychotropics, Class Actions Teddy Basham-Witherington Foster Care, Psychotropics, Class Actions Teddy Basham-Witherington

Indiscriminate Use of Psychotropics among Children in Foster Care Is a National Disgrace

Because of the success of our lawsuit, Missouri will now begin implementing reforms to protect these children: medical records will be monitored; doctors and caregivers, with real input from youth, will vet the risks and the benefits of medication before it is administered; and an independent child psychiatrist will be available to provide secondary review of prescriptions for efficacy and safety.

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Foster Care, Reproductive Rights Teddy Basham-Witherington Foster Care, Reproductive Rights Teddy Basham-Witherington

Reproductive Justice for Foster Youth

When S.H. entered the foster care system at age twelve, she had already suffered years of sexual abuse by her stepfather. She was around seventeen and a young mother, when her county welfare agency placed her in a Promesa Behavioral Health group home. Upon arrival, the group home made S.H. sign a document promising that she wouldn’t engage in sexual activity while she lived there. 

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Children's Rights, Foster Care Teddy Basham-Witherington Children's Rights, Foster Care Teddy Basham-Witherington

Judge Rules Texas Foster Care System Unconstitutional

In her Dec. 17 ruling against Texas' foster care system, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack was scathing. For more than two decades, she wrote, the state has created a situation where "children have been shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm."

I was one of those children. I was born in Dumas, deep in the heart of West Texas. I entered the foster care system shortly before my 10th birthday. My mother was an addict — meth being her drug of choice — and would routinely beat me when she was high.

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