Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Overprescribing Drugs for Foster Kids
When Rochelle Trochtenberg aged out of foster care, she was on 10 different mood-stabilizing drugs to treat bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder and PTSD. Later, she learned she never had those conditions at all. It turns out, this is not uncommon for California children in foster care.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readWhen Rochelle Trochtenberg aged out of foster care, she was on 10 different mood-stabilizing drugs to treat bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder and PTSD. Later, she learned she never had those conditions at all. It turns out, this is not uncommon for California children in foster care. According to an investigation by the San Jose Mercury News, one in four adolescents in foster care are on psychotropic drugs, more than three times the rate for adolescents overall.
