>>> PRESS RELEASEOctober 29, 2006
>>> Contact: Rick Callender, President
>>> (408) 406-5203 Phone
>>
>>>NAACP Calls For Ending Use of Psychiatric Drugs on Foster Youth
>>
>>> Says Foster Care Children should be protected from the financial
>>> incentives the Foster Care Industry receives for pushing psychiatric
>>> drugs
>>> on them.
>>>
>>> OAKLAND, CA - Mr. Rick Callender, president of the San Jose Silicon
>>> Valley
>>> branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
>>> (NAACP) submitted a resolution to the State NAACP Convention calling for
>>> an
>>> end to the profit-motivated practice of using psychiatric drugs on
>>> foster
>>> youth. The resolution was unanimously passed today by the membership.
>>>
>>> Several investigations into Foster Care have recently exposed how
>>> group-home
>>> "parents" request and administer psychotropic drugs on foster youth at
>>> far
>>> greater rates than any other population. Since 1999 State & Federal
>>> regulations provide a financial incentive for Group Homes and Foster
>>> Parents
>>> to use psychiatric drugs on these children. California's deranged
>>> foster-care system pays higher rates when young people are drugged for
>>> even
>>> the slightest sign of misbehavior or upset. In July of this year, the
>>> Blue-Ribbon Commission on Foster Care Members were reportedly stunned to
>>> learn the overuse of psychotropic medications was an important area
>>> foster
>>> youth pleaded for reform.
>>>
>>> Mr. Callender said that, "In February 2006 an FDA Advisory panel
>>> recommended
>>> a black-box warning that certain psychiatric drugs, like Ritalin,
>>> Adderall
>>> &
>>> Concerta, when prescribed to children can cause violence, suicide and
>>> sudden
>>> death. This resolution is significant since we already know that
>>> children
>>> of color make up a disproportionate amount of children within the foster
>>> care system. We must ensure foster youth are given proper medical care
>>> and
>>> only prescribed medically necessary medications, not just a drug to
>>> quiet
>>> them down and add dollars to their guardian's pocket."
>>>
>>> Dr. Lawrence Hooper, a medical doctor and the Health Committee Chairman
>>> of
>>> the San Jose Branch said, " Ever since the American Psychiatric
>>> Association
>>> admitted no lab tests exist to diagnose any mental disorder, the entire
>>> legitimacy of psychiatry has become questionable. Couple this with the
>>> 19
>>> international warnings about how psychiatric drugs have been linked to
>>> causing diabetes, liver failure, violence, suicide and sudden death, it
>>> becomes apparent that strict constraints against psychiatry must be
>>> called
>>> for to protect children."
>>>
>>> 2006 marks the three year anniversary of when Mr. Callender helped guide
>>> the
>>> passage of a national NAACP resolution that stated, "Research by medical
>>> professionals have indicated considerable controversy and diverse
>>> opinion
>>> about the validity of childhood behavioral or learning 'disorders' such
>>> as,
>>> but not limited to ADHD." This resolution called upon
>>>
>>> San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP website (www.sanjosenaacp.org).
>>>
>>> The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is the
>>> oldest, largest and strongest civil rights organization in the United
>>> States. The principal objective of the NAACP is to ensure the
>>> political,
>>> educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of
>>> the
>>> United States. The San Jose/Silicon Valley Branch of the NAACP was
>>> founded
>>> in 1952.
>>
>