Jeremy Loudenback

1 month ago | imprintnews.org | Jeremy Loudenback

It was the annual high school wrestling tournament that Lily Dorman Colby looked forward to most when she was a teen in foster care two decades ago. At the time, she was an All-American wrestler at Berkeley High. More than the actual competition, Colby was excited about the opportunity the tournament gave her to see a younger brother, who was also in foster care, but had been placed in a separate home.

1 month ago | mindsitenews.org | Jeremy Loudenback

Some state judges oversee prescribing to foster youth ‘like a hawk,’ but critics says others are laxPart 3 of a series. Read part 1 here and part 2 here. In California, foster youth prescribed psychiatric drugs are asked a series of questions: Do you know your diagnosis? Do you know the reason for the prescription? Are you aware of side effects? Do you have a trusted adult you can talk about medical issues with?

2 months ago | imprintnews.org | Jeremy Loudenback

In this fourth installment of the Imprint’s multi-part series Medicated in Foster Care: Who’s Looking Out? we hear from young adults prescribed heavy doses of psychotropic medications in Los Angeles County more than a decade ago. Foster youth are typically in greater need of mental health support. But these four women found their pain and anguish muffled, not healed. Read the entire series here. Lethargic. Sluggish. Dizzy. Woozy. Destabilized. That was life in foster care on sedating psychotropic drugs.

2 months ago | imprintnews.org | Jeremy Loudenback

Today, in the third of The Imprint’s multi-part series Medicated in Foster Care: Who’s Looking Out?, we examine oversight measures in California, where judges monitor psychotropic prescriptions. Next up in the series, read about the experiences of young people who took psychotropic medications while in the care of the state. In California, foster youth prescribed psychiatric drugs are asked a series of questions: Do you know your diagnosis? Do you know the reason for the prescription?

2 months ago | imprintnews.org | Jeremy Loudenback

By law, teachers, nurses, child care providers, social workers, police officers and therapists must call authorities if they suspect potential child maltreatment. But too often, advocates say these requirements result in more harm than help: Unnecessary government intervention can drag parents into the child welfare system simply for being impoverished, not abusive. Bolstered by a year-long reform effort, the California Legislature will soon consider an alternate path.