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Foster youth speakers at Los Angeles County meeting say rights notifications and medication practices fall short
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Summary
Several public commenters at a Los Angeles County meeting said social workers and probation officers do not reliably inform foster youth about their legal rights and described long-term, sometimes unclear psychiatric medication histories and limited opportunities for youth workforce development.
Several people who spoke during a Los Angeles County public meeting said they did not receive required notifications about legal rights while in foster care and described long-term psychiatric medication use beginning in childhood.
"To reiterate, the law is that social workers or probation officers talk to youth about their rights at placement, replacement, and every 6 months. Really, the best practice is to have those conversations monthly," Commenter 3, a public commenter, said.
The commenters described gaps between that legal standard and their experience. "If I would if I could have I would have known about it by while I was younger ... I definitely took more, like, position to have more advocacy with myself," Commenter 2, a public commenter, said, adding that information about choosing medical providers and the medications youth receive was not provided when they were in care.
Several speakers also described extended psychiatric medication histories. "I started at 5, and I was on a bunch of different medications, and I didn't get off of medication till 21," Commenter 5, a public commenter, said. Commenter 5 listed medicines by name: "Abilify, Latuda, Lexapro, Buspirone," and said frequent changes in diagnoses and clinicians left them uncertain about treatment plans.
Speakers raised concerns about limited opportunities for foster youth to participate in activities and early workforce experiences. "I work with over 1,300 foster youth in my program, and half of them are young ladies. Not 1 of them have been through Girl Scouts," Commenter 6, a public commenter, said, adding that shelter lockdowns limit chances for youth to gain early work habits.
The speakers framed their remarks as both a call for consistent notifications about rights and for better access to information and opportunities that could reduce overmedication and improve advocacy. The meeting transcript does not record any formal action or motion on these issues.
No formal action was recorded during the public-comment period on these topics.
