Chemical Straitjackets

Children confined to mental institutions or reformatories are often sadly neglected by overworked staffs. But far worse, charges Indiana Democrat Birch Bayh, they are being "mentally handcuffed and made vegetables" by widespread overdosing with Thorazine and other potent tranquilizers. This week Bayh's Senate subcommittee on juvenile delinquency is holding hearings on allegations of drug misuse in both private and public institutions for children.

The problem, say Senate investigators, is that institution staffs find it easier to control troubled or obstreperous children when they are heavily sedated. Sometimes the results can be tragic. A North Carolina doctor and his wife blame the death of their retarded daughter last June on an overdose of Thorazine administered in a state institution. Education Researcher Kenneth Wooden, who recently visited juvenile facilities in 30 states as part of a Ford Foundation research project, charges that "thousands of children have been placed in human warehouses where hard drugs are administered like candy."

Such warehouses have been a major concern in Texas, where until recently, licenses to run child-care facilities were granted to some unqualified operators possessing no better credentials than a high school diploma. Many were attracted to the field mainly by the $800 to $1,100 monthly stipends that the home states give to institutions for each retarded or delinquent youngster they care for. Senate and Justice Department investigators believe that public facilities in New York, California, Louisiana and other states have actually helped to keep the Texas child-care mills going by shipping them children whom they find too troublesome to handle.

Texas has moved to toughen its standards for juvenile homes. Still, Bayh's committee wants to frame federal laws that will tighten up regulations nationwide and end the use of what the Senator calls "chemical Straitjackets."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.