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No Mandatory Mental Health Screening for Children!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 – by Ron Paul

Dr. Ron Paul

Maryanne Godboldo, a mother in Michigan, noticed that pills prescribed by her daughter's doctor were making her condition worse, not better. So Ms. Godboldo stopped giving them to her. That's when the trouble began. When Child Protective Services (CPS) bureaucrats became aware that the girl was not receiving her prescribed medication, they decided the child should be taken away from her mother's custody on grounds of medical neglect. When Ms. Godboldo refused to surrender her daughter to the state, CPS enlisted the help of a police SWAT team! On March 24 of this year a 12 hour standoff ensued and young Ariana was taken into custody. The drug involved was Risperdal, a neuroleptic antipsychotic medication with numerous known side effects. Ms. Godboldo had decided on a more holistic approach for her daughter. She is still engaged in a costly legal battle with the state over Ariana's treatment and custody.

This is one example of how government's increasing proclivity to medicate children with questionable psychiatric drugs violates the rights of parents. Just recently, the Government Accountability Office released a report on the astonishingly high rate of prescriptions for psychotropic drugs for children in the foster care system. It is absolutely astounding that nearly 40% of kids in foster care are on psychotropic drugs, some of them taking up to 5 different pills at a time. Some of these children are under one year of age − too young to safely take over the counter cold medication!

To fight this dangerous trend I reintroduced the Parental Consent Act of 2011, HR 2769, which prohibits federal funds from being used to establish or implement any universal or mandatory mental health or psychiatric screening program. The previous administration pushed hard for this type of federal intrusion into the medical decisions of families through its wildly misnamed "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health." Everyone interested in parental rights and true health freedom must fight to make sure the commission's findings and dubious psychiatric science are never used as justification to force mental health screening on American kids at school without their parents' consent.

There has been a persistent lobbying effort, funded by pharmaceutical companies, to increase the number of these prescriptions to even more children. A universal screening program is the stated goal of these lobbyists. I would not be at all surprised to see the recent attention to the issue of schoolyard bullying used as a tool towards these ends.

Imagine the potential ramifications of a universal, mandatory psychiatric health screening program in a public school, considering how some bureaucrats are wont to behave! The diagnostic criteria for many mental illnesses remain vague and subjective. Therefore it is all too easy for a bureaucrat in a white coat to label a child with some sort of psychiatric syndrome simply because they were having a bad day, or behaving as a typical rambunctious child. That label could follow them around the rest of their school career and come with a number of prescriptions attached, which the state, as in the Godboldo case, may try to force the parents to administer, whether they want to or not.

I plan to continue the fight to ban federal funding of any universal screening program that imposes mental healthcare screening on children without express informed consent from parents.




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  Posted by DwightMann on 12/19/11 01:16 PM

This is another reason to vote for Ron Paul.

  Posted by Rod Farmer on 12/16/11 08:05 AM

Posted by RF on 12/13/11 01:19 PM
I fully agree- perhaps turning to the government for free( state, federal) provided medication has strings that should not be attached, if so detached- , ie the cost of welfare medication are cost of freedom to raise your child in thier best interests. not the government could it be the day of the implant scanning devices are sooner to arrive for our welfare recipients and thier children? perhaps they should stop having children they cannot support.

Nobody volunteers to be a "client" of Child Protective Services (CPS). The more "clients" the more powerful CPS becomes. Their first step is to destabilize the family and draw them into their "Alice in Wonderland" world; a world where they dictate the logic. The "disorders" they describe don't realy exist, except those that have been chemically induced.

Let's not blame the victims. They are more upset with Social Services than you are, RF. If psychiatrists are denied the right to prescribe drugs, and
Social Services is denied the right to bankrupt their "clients", Social Services will be exorcised.

Thank God for Ron Paul.

  Posted by jwade on 12/15/11 12:08 AM

Psychiatric drugs are the leeches and bloodletting of our time. See Robert Whitaker's book, Anatomy of an Epidemic for a detailed history and account of the awful effects of these drugs, and the gross over-prescription of them.

This puts it in perspective: before lithium (the first drug treatment for bipolar) the prevalence of bipolar disorder (manic-depression) was 1 in 5,000-20,000 people. Now with the prevalence of medication, it is 1 in 20-50 (!). (from Whitaker's book)

Similar figures for schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.

The effect of these drugs is often to exacerbate the problems they are supposed to treat; deepening and prolonging the suffering of the patient. They do not "balance the chemistry of the brain" as is often said; they change the structure of the brain, skewing the feedback mechanisms, and causing the widespread troubles that we see.

That such medication is being given so freely to young children, while their brains are forming and when they should be learning to cope and manage whatever strengths and weaknesses they have to deal with within themselves, and that their consumption is enforced so violently, troubles me more than just about anything.

I am grateful to Dr. Paul for speaking out and taking some action on this. Fortunately there are more and more in the field of psychology who are coming to understand the devastating impact of the these drugs.

  Posted by pokertoe on 12/14/11 03:41 PM

Posted by Merridth80 on 12/13/11 06:50 AM
I have seen cases of a child being put on meds by the state, kept on them until the child attained 18 years of age, then kicked out of the system, with violent results, because that person could no longer get the drugs!
The child was just being a child, with no where to expend their excess energy.

While I admire Dr Paul, he fails to address the real reason why the govt is capable of taking one's child from the parent in the first place. When a child is born, the mother is presented with an application for certificate of live birth. By signing the document, the mother basically signs over the child to the government. She signs as the "INFORMANT", not the parent or guardian.

She informs the governemnt that the child was born and gives full authority of the child over to the govt. It is expensive and unpractical for the government to raise all the children of the country, so the govt allows the parents to raise the child to a productive work age so the child can then become productive and pay taxes.

If the parent deviates from how the govt wants the child raised, it simply takes over control of its property. A great video to watch is John Harris' "It's An Illusion".

If Dr Paul wants to stop the govt from being able to take control of property it considers its own, he has a much bigger fight on his hands. If the parent wants to regain control over his/her child, they need to know how to gain control over their estates.

  Posted by RF on 12/14/11 01:18 PM

Posted by Stan on 12/14/11 03:01 AM
To paraphrase Ron Paul, freedom = tolerance. While the problem of parents not in position to raise children is pressing, any solution that authoritatively hinders this is inherently intolerant (to these people's IQ and understanding of the world around them) and can only lead to tyranny.

And unfortunately as you have pointed out, due to shortcomings of these people they will be easy prey and be abused first. Then comes the rest of the population (us) as precedent is set and "equality" is important.

I would rather educate them, provide them with a free-market jobs (a life that can have a meaning) and first and foremost tolerate it and work on this by education. I think it would cause an uplift and desired results.
RP has set a fantastic example as how it works in my view.

all would be well with todays world if that were to happen, education, jobs,lives with meaning and productive results to compliment our global society- we have been so tolerant in our endeavors that we are bankuupting the medican syatem and drowning the taxpayers in debt to finance the world of handouts to those unwilling to be productive parts of our society just because the think they are "owed" something, our prison system is overflowing with the results of a "tolerant" society, freedom always comes with a price,it seems to me a mental healt test for parents might better suit the problem,the enviorment these children are raised in has a lot to do ith thier mental health, maybe the apples aren't falling far from the tree... .

  Posted by Stan on 12/14/11 03:01 AM

Posted by RF on 12/13/11 01:19 PM
I fully agree- perhaps turning to the government for free( state, federal) provided medication has strings that should not be attached, if so detached- , ie the cost of welfare medication are cost of freedom to raise your child in thier best interests. not the government could it be the day of the implant scanning devices are sooner to arrive for our welfare recipients and thier children? perhaps they should stop having children they cannot support.

To paraphrase Ron Paul, freedom = tolerance. While the problem of parents not in position to raise children is pressing, any solution that authoritatively hinders this is inherently intolerant (to these people's IQ and understanding of the world around them) and can only lead to tyranny.

And unfortunately as you have pointed out, due to shortcomings of these people they will be easy prey and be abused first. Then comes the rest of the population (us) as precedent is set and "equality" is important.

I would rather educate them, provide them with a free-market jobs (a life that can have a meaning) and first and foremost tolerate it and work on this by education. I think it would cause an uplift and desired results.
RP has set a fantastic example as how it works in my view.

  Posted by chad2 on 12/13/11 07:13 PM

Bless you Ron! And Ron, check out the truth about vaccinations and how many of them are derived from aborted fetal cells (especially the MMR) and how this could be the reason for autism! Go here and look at education section: Click to view link

Our children are under attack!!! Abortion, prescription drugs, vaccinations, public school brain washing, past generation debt, etc... Save the children USA!

  Posted by ilpatino on 12/13/11 06:57 PM

Posted by TimurTheLame on 12/13/11 06:25 PM
Someone, somewhere in my reading commented that they are going to produce a pro RP bumper-sticker that would read something to the effect of " We have had enough of lawyers as presidents, how about a doctor?"

All well and good but does anybody really think that a cancerous body metasizing in all of it's organs can be cured by a pot of green tea?

I appreciate DB's logic that RP is awakening people to what is happening. Apparently he has a growing support among the young (!). Good. But that will only be of value after the great re-set.

The institutions that we exist under are not repairable. That much should be obvious.

He is still a republican and must proceed through the official channels.

Need I mention of what coincidences leading to his demise that might occur if he should win. End the FED-ha!


My apologies for the pessimism, but reality draws it's own conclusions.

The fact that the PE has to go to enormous lenghts nowadays to keep the show going is proof, for me, that the millions gallons of green tea, being poured out of an increasing number of small teapots, is starting to cure the cancer.

  Posted by TimurTheLame on 12/13/11 06:25 PM

Someone, somewhere in my reading commented that they are going to produce a pro RP bumper-sticker that would read something to the effect of " We have had enough of lawyers as presidents, how about a doctor?"

All well and good but does anybody really think that a cancerous body metasizing in all of it's organs can be cured by a pot of green tea?

I appreciate DB's logic that RP is awakening people to what is happening. Apparently he has a growing support among the young (!). Good. But that will only be of value after the great re-set.

The institutions that we exist under are not repairable. That much should be obvious.

He is still a republican and must proceed through the official channels.

Need I mention of what coincidences leading to his demise that might occur if he should win. End the FED-ha!


My apologies for the pessimism, but reality draws it's own conclusions.

  Posted by Friend_of_John_Galt on 12/13/11 05:52 PM

I can recall my best friend in 5th grade being considered "unruly" ... today, he'd be called ADD or some such term-- and then be medicated to turn him into a zombie.

The non-public (Lutheran) school I attended, simply gave my friend more attention and more projects to do to keep him busy. When he had enough assignments to complete, he was no longer causing any classroom disruptions.

I suspect that there are a multitude of children being medicated who simply need more teacher attention and more challenging school assignments. But it's so much easier to medicate children into submission -- and it's no wonder that children are "left behind" all the time.

  Posted by fabien_hug on 12/13/11 02:00 PM

Mister Ron Paul you're our only hope.

  Posted by RF on 12/13/11 01:19 PM

I fully agree- perhaps turning to the government for free( state, federal) provided medication has strings that should not be attached, if so detached- , ie the cost of welfare medication are cost of freedom to raise your child in thier best interests. not the government could it be the day of the implant scanning devices are sooner to arrive for our welfare recipients and thier children? perhaps they should stop having children they cannot support.

  Posted by dotti on 12/13/11 10:00 AM

On the one side are the pharmaceutical companies increasing their bottom line.

On the other side, the state gets compliant children who will probably grow up to be compliant adults.

It's a win-win for the PTB. And wethepeople are the losers.

Great job, Ron Paul!!!

  Posted by kenn on 12/13/11 09:55 AM

Good luck Ron... I'm sure you'll have as much luck with that as you did with the Defense Authorization act allowing for the secret 'in the night' detention of americans.

Carry small stick,,, Talk loudly!

  Posted by Stan on 12/13/11 07:18 AM

Hats off on this one to Ron Paul.

"Telling the truth in an empire of lies is in itself a revolutionary act."

When most of the candidates receive lavish campaign funding from pharmaceutical companies to have the candidate support legislation that creates medical slaves a captive population that is forced to take medication against their own will. What else it is than a clear policy of fascism/corporatism where a cartel of companies using the lethal force of the state for gaining "consumers" for personal profit? Disgusting.

  Posted by Merridth80 on 12/13/11 06:50 AM

I have seen cases of a child being put on meds by the state, kept on them until the child attained 18 years of age, then kicked out of the system, with violent results, because that person could no longer get the drugs!
The child was just being a child, with no where to expend their excess energy.