Psychotropic Medication Protocol

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (CFS) in partnership with the County’s Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Juvenile Dependency Court have developed a Psychotropic Medication Protocol to ensure that psychotropic medication is administered to children only when absolutely necessary, and once the determination is made that a child actually needs the medication, it is provided on a timely basis. Under the protocol, requests for psychotropic medication for court-dependent children are reviewed by a public health nurse and a Board-certified child psychiatrist from the Juvenile Court Behavioral Health Services (JCBHS) prior to being sent to the Juvenile Dependency Court in a timely manner. The goals of the Psychotropic Medication Protocol are to ensure that only appropriate medication is being prescribed for dependent children; decrease the waiting time between when the initial request for a psychotropic prescription is submitted and when the Juvenile Dependency Court approves or denies the request, and reduce the workload of child welfare social workers.