Children’s Rights in conjunction with its 2018 grant from the Foundation brought a case, M.B. v. Corsi, in Missouri challenging the treatment of children in foster care.
In a victory for the 13,000 children in Missouri’s foster care custody, a federal judge in January 2018 denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. The Court found that Plaintiff children have a plausible substantive due process claim based on the State’s failure to maintain comprehensive medical records, including with details of psychotropic medications administered, and its failure to implement a system for flagging outlier prescription practices, such as too many different drugs, too much of any given drug, or the administration of drugs to those who are too young.
The Court also found that Plaintiff children have a plausible procedural due process claim because they possess a strong liberty interest in not being unnecessarily administered psychotropic medications and additional procedural safeguards may be required. (January 2018)