Thread: Try Parenting Instead Of Mental Health Screening

Try Parenting Instead Of Mental Health Screening
Feb. 7, 2007 by Phyllis Schlafly
Mental health screening of all children is the goal of legislation introduced into many state legislatures this year. Typical of these highly controversial bills is the Missouri bill that would require every Missouri school district, in collaboration with "the office of comprehensive child mental health," to develop "a policy of incorporating social and emotional development into the district's educational program."

The Missouri bill requires schools to "address teaching and assessing social and emotional skills and protocols for responding to children with social, emotional or mental health problems." The bill also requires the Missouri state board of education to set "social and emotional development standards."

One marvels at the arrogance of government officials who think they can set children's social and emotional standards. Where on the chart would they place a child crying because he fell and skinned his knee?

Cortland County, New York, has already announced a plan to annually screen every fifth-grader and ninth-grader for mental health problems. The purpose, according to the county director of youth services, is "to raise awareness that mental health issues are in essence no different than other physical issues, such as heart disease." Apparently, you are not "aware" if you think otherwise.

The screening process, which takes 15 minutes, involves getting the kids to answer a series of yes-or-no questions, on either computer or paper. It is claimed that parental permission will be necessary, but all children of any age in foster care will automatically be screened.

Mental health screening is based on the assumption that ten percent of children suffer from a mental disorder severe enough to cause impairment, and that five percent of children have emotional or behavior difficulties that interfere with learning, friendships and family life.

Cortland County plans to refer the ten percent to the county mental health clinic or other providers for further evaluation, and it is well known that referrals often result in orders for drug therapy. The clinic will be rewarded with $50 of taxpayers' money for every child sent to the clinic.

Parents are starting to wake up to this invasion of their authority over the care and upbringing of their own children. A bill that would prohibit school personnel from making mental health recommendations or requirements for children, including the use of psychotropic medications, just passed out of a committee of the Utah legislature.

This bill would also prohibit schools from requiring a student to take psychiatric medication in order to attend school and prohibit the state from removing a child from parental custody based on a parent's refusal to consent to the administration of psychotropic medication.

A bill introduced into the Connecticut legislature is more specific. It would require that all parents who are requested by the school to have their child evaluated be first provided with a statement that the government does not recommend any particular checklist, assessment or evaluation for psychiatric or psychological disorders, plus a copy of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (the federal law that requires prior written parental consent before schools can require students to submit to psychological or psychiatric testing or treatment).

Last year, Alaska enacted a law forbidding schools from conducting psychiatric or behavioral health evaluations and from requiring that a child take a psychotropic drug as a condition for attending a public school. Also last year, Arizona passed a law requiring that schools obtain written parental consent before conducting any mental health screening on any pupil and must make the actual survey questions available for inspection by parents.

Someone should notify state legislators and school districts that are contemplating mental health screening requirements that the American Psychological Association recently urged that "in most cases" of childhood mental disorders, non-drug treatment should "be considered first." This should include techniques that focus on parenting skills as well as help from teachers.

Even the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, an organization whose members strongly favor drug treatment, just completed new guidelines recommending that children receive talk therapy before being given drugs for the common complaint of moderate depression.

Parents should take on the responsibility of being parents, and they should beware of the psychotropic drugs that have unfortunate or even tragic side effects. Parents should help to pass pro-parent legislation before those who think the "village" should raise all children use mental health screening to label their child as nuts.


Read this column online.


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Grrrrr! So they can label them all. Tell them whatever they did is not their fault. Give them all awards for being "winners". How many more will then be labeled as ADHD or ADD so the drug companies can make more money off of them???

Originally Posted by JadedBaztard

Grrrrr! So they can label them all. Tell them whatever they did is not their fault. Give them all awards for being "winners". How many more will then be labeled as ADHD or ADD so the drug companies can make more money off of them???

BINGO!!

American have raised many children and we have not had to use drugs and have labels for our children. Parents raised and took responsibility for raising their children. We allowed parents to spank children and teach them right from wrong and that there were actions for doing wrong. Now we label them and make excuses. No wonder america is going bad.

My Dad had a cure for "depression" and attention deficit.............HIS BELT! I don't use a belt on my kids BUT I DO SPANK THEM! I know, shocking isn't it. I'm sure Child Protective Services will be on my doorstep any minute. They will probably carpool with the rep from the ACLU. Labels are great aren't they? Like a get out of jail free card. A label absolves you of your wrong doing in today's society. It magically converts you from guilty to victim. "Your honor, my client is not responsible for this horrible crime because he/she suffers from _______ (fill in the blank) disorder. She needs TREATMENT your honor, not condemnation."

They want to label them so they can medicate them and get more federal funds for "Special Needs." The drug companies will make lots of $$$. They could care less about the children’s well being.

Actually I believe it is every more insidious than that. Yes they want to drug the children and get special needs money and the drug companies want to make more money. I also think it is done for the purposes of having a whole new generation of drones who are unable to think for themselves, thereby making them much more compliant to wishes of an all powerful goverment. There will be a lot less people such as ourselves to cause them any grief.

Follow the money trail. The more special needs children a school has the more money it receives. The more ESL children a school has the more money it receives. The more migrant children a school has the more money it receives. And so it goes.

Cortland County plans to refer the ten percent to the county mental health clinic or other providers for further evaluation, and it is well known that referrals often result in orders for drug therapy. The clinic will be rewarded with $50 of taxpayers' money for every child sent to the clinic.

What a huge game this is. The only thing worse than the county allowing this to happen is the parents. There is no way I would allow the school, the county, or any one else to claim that my child needs drugs. I agree with Jaded...a swift kick in the pants (so to speak) works just fine.

I know a lady who went to her child's locker because she had a hunch that the kid had something in there that they shouldn't. (And she was right). A classmate told the parent to leave, and even the school was reprimanding her for invading the child's locker. What a joke that is, since the parents are responsible for the kid, right?. Even her own child threatened to call DCFS. The mom stood her ground with every one and told the kid to shape up or ship out. Ironically, the kid turned out just fine. Save the drugs and the therapy...let the folks take care of it.