Foster Kids Medicated For Money?

From CBS2 out of Los Angeles

"I think I was on about maybe 20 medications," said former foster child Trayvon Walker.

"Ten years ago if you had given a 3-year-old or a 5-year-old or even a 12-year-old an anti-psychotic, you'd lose your license,” said Dr. Elizabeth Roberts, Child Psychologist.

"I was on 20 drugs at the same time,” Foster Child Alexandra Lee said.

"Today it's standard practice," Roberts said.

Trayvon Walker is trying to recall all of the medications he was given as a foster kid. This list is long.

"I was on Depakote, Respirdal, Wellbutrin, Tripital, Clonidnine, Dispar," Walker said.

And he's not alone.

"In one day I would say probably 20 different medications," Lee said.

All three are current or former foster kids. All of them claim they're victims of overmedication.

"It caused me to have kidney renal failure,” Walker said.

The past three months, we've reviewed confidential medical records of some of L.A.'s foster youth. And what we found is disturbing.

A 9-year-old taking four medications at the same time… A 6-year-old on Prosac.

And there's this -- a 3-year-old on the anti-schizophrenic medication ability.

"It's become completely out of control."

This veteran social worker, who would only talk if we concealed her identity and disguised her voice, says in her opinion the drugs were not always given for medical reasons. Sometimes for convenience...

”It's just shutting them up and shutting them down. That's it. It's just a chemical restraint. We don't know what else to do with you.”

And sometimes for money… Because most foster kids who receive drugs are classified as problem children and by contract, group homes get paid more for those kids.

"When you have a group home full of kids sleeping, you don't have to deal with them," Walker said. "It's a good thing for them, they get paid, they get a nice fat paycheck."

"I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised," Roberts said.

Dr. Elizabeth Roberts agrees. She's a child psychiatrist, who treats foster children.

"Everybody's winning and they get a higher paycheck and if the kid gets a social security check on top of that well that's all the better," Roberts said.

In L.A. County the number of medicated foster kids runs anywhere from three to 6,000 depending on who you talk to. Statewide, no one seems to know the exact numbers. But they have jumped considerably in the past five years.

There are built-in safeguards. A judge has to approve medications.

We showed the 3-year-old’s medical record to Judge Michael Nash, whom presides over L.A.'s family dependency court. He didn't handle this case and says he may have done it differently.

“A 3-year-old would cause me much more cause for concern and I would not automatically sign that with out further inquiry,” said Judge Michael Nash, Family Court.

But we uncovered audits of L.A.'s foster youth group homes where dozens of kids we found to be medicated without court authorization or with little doctor oversight.

“We've seen situations where that has in fact occurred and we have prohibited those doctors with working with those kids in the future,” Nash said.

But that's if their complaints are ever heard. Some fear foster kids are trapped in a system too quiet to be heard.

“Who listens to a foster kid,” roberts asked. “They're dismissed, they are a forgotten child in this equation.”

Their cries may soon be heard. State legislators are holding hearings to see how to better monitor the drugs. And Judge Nash told me that any allegations of overmedicating brought to his attention are fully investigated.