Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a "Gold Mine"

[Jilly_in_VA]

JULIA LURIE

The first time Katrina Edwards was locked in a psychiatric hospital for children, she was sure a foster parent would pick her up the next day.

It was a spring night in 2012 when Edwards, then 12 years old, was admitted to North Star Behavioral Health in Anchorage. In a photo taken upon her arrival, Edwards wears an Abercrombie hoodie and has dark circles under her eyes, her expression skeptical. During her initial evaluation, a psychiatrist asked a battery of questions, including what Edwards wanted to be when she grew up (a police officer), what she did for fun (sports), and how she slept (poorly, with nightmares).

Alaska’s Office of Children’s Services had put Edwards in foster care earlier that year after she reported being sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. Asked why she’d ended up at North Star, Edwards explained that she had threatened to run away from her foster home and commit suicide. Medical records from her admission noted that she had a history of fleeting suicidal ideation, but that Edwards said she didn’t have a plan or intention of killing herself.


Then, the psychiatrist asked, if Edwards had three wishes, what would they be? Instead of talking about her dreams for the future, Edwards focused on the past: She said she wished that she hadn’t been abused, that she hadn’t been sexually abused, and, pointedly, that she hadn’t threatened suicide.

Edwards sobbed and yelled in protest as she handed over her cellphone and jewelry and changed into blue scrubs and hospital socks. She refused to sign the admissions paperwork; an OCS caseworker did so instead, according to court documents. Her outburst continued as a staffer ushered her into the unit for adolescent girls.

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2023/10/foster-kids-psychiatric-hospitals-universal-health-services-uhs-alaska-cps/

This article is possibly more horrifying than the ones about nursing homes

[MyMission]

1. I heard about this on NPR yesterday

Interviews and commentary kept me sitting in my car to listen.

It was horrifying and eye opening. Didn't realize the initial exposure came via Mother Jones. NPR probably reaches more people than mother Jones. I hope this publicity will help call attention to this, and also bring about some changes.

Several successful lawsuits were brought against these agencies, so the victims got compensation while the abuse continues for others!

[Bayard]

2. Horrifying

And the main reason--"Medicaid typically foots the bill, which at North Star costs $938 per night.." Very profitable.

[slightlv]

3. We always heard about Reagan shutting down

"the mental hospitals," but I don't remember ever hearing where people went afterwards... except to the street. Kids weren't talked about at all that I can remember. I was still pretty young and trying to find my own way in the world... some of that time in the Air Force... so I may just have missed it. Still, when I got out of the Air Force and went to college, I majored in Psychology. One would think a situation like this would have been talked about in at least one of the classes. But there was nothing mentioned during the four years it took to get my degree.

I do know a little of what it was like from the family side of things. My grandmother had German Measles while pregnant (if I remember correctly... either that or my uncle had it when he was young). It left him mentally retarded. He never really developed past the maturity age of about 8. No self-control, highly aggressive, and low frustration levels. He was also a large sized individual, even as a child. I do remember the family upset when the institution where he'd been living closed. His folks brought him back home and paid for help during the day... still, I know from the emotional and physical scars my Mom still wears to this day that his arrival was hell on earth for her. It took me a long time of growing up until I realized that the experience explained why mom was the way she was. It allowed me to understand and forgive some of the emotional and physical abuse I grew up with. I still carry the feelings of insecurity and a heck of a lot of self-deprecation because of my childhood. Which, to me, just shows the harm Reagan and the republicans did at that time touched not only those who lived in the residential centers and institutions, but carried down into succeeding generations of the family.

Eventually, after trying to sexually abuse me and becoming more and more aggressive and violent, my uncle was sent to a home for the "criminally insane." I don't really know a lot about this time period 'cause my grandma kept me away from things at that point. What I do remember, when she'd take me with her to visit him, he seemed happy and satisfied because they allowed him to do what he wanted and he had just about everything that he desired. "Getting out" wasn't really on his list. Probably because of his mental disability; I don't think he really was capable of understanding the concepts. As long as he had his record player and his records and could play them whenever he wanted, and was given whatever he wanted to eat when he wanted it, he was pretty happy. Realize, I was probably a pre-teen or younger during this time frame. That could have colored my understanding.

Eventually, "they" even closed this hospital down. By this time, my uncle was a grown man on the outside, and still a petulant child on the inside. Once again, grandma hired help to handle things. Eventually they were able to get him into a group home. He was there for quite a few years and eventually formed a relationship with a girl who was developmentally a few years older than him. They were married and, with the help of social services, managed to live a life somewhat on their own.

My mother is still harboring the scars from her childhood with him. And I think (tho I have no proof), that this repressed anger and frustration is what causes her to act out violently now that she is into senior dementia. I just know my Mom isn't anything like the Mom I had made friends with when I grew up and we had some heart to heart talks. To this day, she doesn't know of my Uncle's behaviors towards me, and she never will. With my grandma gone, no one but me knows. And it's just something I'll carry for the rest of my life; although I understand why it happened and that I was not at fault. I guess the psychology degree helped somewhat, even though I ended up making my career in Computers.

If you've managed to make it this far, I thank you. If it was TL;DR I understand. This article struck home for me. And though it was about foster children who many times didn't need to be institutionalized, I just wanted to show the other side. Of the stress and knock-on effects through two generations that Reagan's laws and regulations caused. And I admit, humbly and ashamedly, I probably wasn't the best parent in the world with my daughter because of my experiences. There is the flip side of the coin where those who needed to be housed some place where they could receive treatment and several types of therapy and still be safe, and the families who loved them but couldn't cope with the hostility and aggressiveness, especially with younger children still at home to be cared for, endured in their search for a situation safe for all. Other than hiring private help, there was literally nothing in those days to help my grandmother. She was on her own, alone, in trying to find help for herself, my mom, and my uncle. This, at a time when the Republicans were pushing their "personal responsibility" meme to everyone. Hypocrisy on display, even back then.