Our school called social services on us when we took our son off his adhd meds?

Question

We have a 10 year old son with adhd. He has been on meds since he was 4.He is a great kid at home. So when he ran out of meds I thought we would try him at school without them.When I went to talk to his teacher she told me"I just can not deal with him". Then she started sending him to the principals office to set all day by himself.Then his principal calls me and tells me that it is my choice to give him the meds or not ,BUT if I did not give him the meds he would spend everyday in the office alone. So anyway we went back on the meds. He ran out of meds about 2 weeks ago and we have been snowed in. our doctor is about 70 miles from our home. I sent him to school without the meds.As soon as he got to school his teacher ask him if he had taken his meds and then sent him to the office to spend the day. Today a social worker came to our home and made me asure her that we would put our son back on his meds and not let him run out of them.Then another social worker went to school and talked to all three of our kids. My 7 year old said they asked her who cooked and who washed her clothes and if her parents ever fought. I dont know what to do I have to send our son to school now well or sick and back on meds I have no choice now. Can a school or social services make us give our son meds for adhd ?

Answer 1

It is true a school can not force you to medicate your son. ADHD is not a deadly disease,you are not putting your child at risk by not medicating him.  My daughter was diagnosed ADD in 2nd grade.  I medicated her for 3rd grade and noticed about 4 months into the meds that she was not benefiting from them anymore and she had lost 14 lbs!!!  She was tiny to begin with she became malnourished looking.  I immediately took her off the meds and have never looked at them again.  They tried to make me medicate her again in 5th grade.  Of course they can not and I basically told them to s***w themselves and I took her out of the private school at the beginning of 6th grade year put her in public school where they are better equipped to handle these situations.  She is half way through 7th grade and makes A- C's with minimal behavior issues (we have had a couple).  I am happy with our decision.  My other 3 kids are still in private school, but it works for them.  If anyone ever told me to medicate her again I would tell them no, if they tried to force the issue I would make it very clear that they are breaking the law and you are not afraid to go straight to the school board with an atty if necessary.  And then follow through.  It is a struggle to cope with the teachers and an ADD/ADHD child but fight for your child ... if you dont ... who will?  Do not be afraid to stand up for your child.  Do not let the schools bully you.  Legally they must do everything in their power to educate your child it is their responsibility and setting him in the office everyday sounds to me as if they could be breaking the law by denying him his legal right to an education.  i would ask an atty and then I would forcefully let them know (if you are right).  Good luck

Answer 2

You just do not do something like that, and if you do you DO NOT publicize it to anyone other than a family member. Social services is RUTHLESS in attempts to find some form of abuse in a family. They will investigate anything and everything and I would make sure to have your child understand the difference between abuse and punishment before they get anywhere NEAR a social worker. They have ways of skewing the definition of such and the child might not understand and give them the wrong information.

Your son has to be WEENED off his meds, not cut cold from them. He is going to go through withdrawl.

VERY stupid on your part.

I used to be on anti-depressants, I stoped taking them but granted I am an adult and I can handle the side-effects and cope till they are gone. Your son is a child.

Answer 3

wow.

i cannot believe the principal told you that if you didn't put your son on medication he would spend every day in the office alone.  that is just outright illegal if your son goes to public school.  the school should be working with you and your son on discipline issues and not tying them to whether or not you're medicating him.  that is awful.

ditto with the social worker, if the medications are just for adhd, unless he's hurting himself or others.  

it is true that some medications (including antidepressants, i don't know about adhd meds) really shouldn't be stopped cold-turkey.  definitely talk to your doctor about that as you don't want to be endangering your child.  i would have a conversation with the pediatrician about whether it's okay to stop your child's medications (and consider whether you really want to if he's having so many behavioral problems), but ultimately that decision is for you and the doctor, not the school or the social workers.  perhaps ask for a letter from your doctor supporting the decision to stop the meds.  that should put a quick stop to the social services intervention.  as for the principal, i'd seriously consider writing him and cc'ing the school superintendant, as it's simply unacceptable for him to make your son's education contingent on medication for an illness like adhd.

Answer 4

You might be better off talking to the doctor and see if he can drop his dosage and gradually get him off the meds instead of none at all.  That we everybody could adjust to the difference even the stupid teacher who has no time for him.  I would ring the education department and put in a complaint.  They should have more patience with him, that is pathetic.  As for social services, if you are a loving parent as i am sure you are otherwise you would not have taken your child to the doctor in the first place, I am sure that they will see this and back away soon.  Good luck.  I hope my advise helps

Answer 5

This is just terribly sad.

Answer 6

Legally neither a school nor social services can make you give your son meds for any reason.  They are NOT doctors.  They do NOT have medical degrees.  You can and should call your county school board, and inform them what is going on.  Sadly this is nothing new anymore.  I ended up pulling my own son out of public school because they were insisting that I medicate my son for ADHD.  Funny enough, I took my son to 3 specialists regarding this, his regular doctor, a behavior analyst, and a psychologist (who saw him 3 times for 2 hours each time) all said he was not ADHD.  When I informed the school of this I was told "we can not teach him unless you medicate him".  Which is completely illegal.  In fact, they don't have the right to share your son's medical information with ANYONE.  Even if you are keeping your son on meds and don't plan on this becoming an issue again, I would advise informing the school board of what is happening in your school because it is illegal.  Your son has rights, and they have been violated.

Only your son's doctor can determine if your son "must" be on meds.  I would suggest speaking to your son's doctor if you would like to try taking your son off of his meds.  He can advise you on how best to go about it.

Answer 7

I think the teacher never gave him a chance to do well without the meds. I guess they can make you have him take them unless you get a doctor to say he doesnt need them anymore.

Sending a child to sit in the principals office all day is denying him his education - they should not be allowed to do that. If he cant be in a regular classroom they should at least have him doing some work toward his classroom work.

Be very careful the next few weeks - make sure he has them for a while - CPS can be really nasty if you cross them. You dont want to give them any reason to come and talk to you again as they may decide to put your kids in care.

Answer 8

The school cannot or anyone cannot make your kid take meds for ADHD.  As a parent you have rights as to what you feel is best for your child as far as medication for this condition is concerned.  My son had ADHD in elementary school, I tried to give him the medication hoping it would help, there was a form I had to sign from the public nurse to turn into the school so they can dispense the meds to him there. I then changed my mind hearing of the side affects scared me so I decided to just wing his condition out and took him off. No one has the right to force you into giving your child medication especially if it is not life threatening.  Sometimes it takes a good staff at the school to work along with you to help improve the child's behaivior like a reward system and tough love at home with the family, many of these children pull through and get better with out drugs.

Answer 9

Sounds to me like you need to get an attorney and fast.  My son is adhd and the school tried to make us put him on meds and we refused after we tried a couple and they made him sick or depressed.  Our pediatrician informed us that the school could not legally make us put him on the meds for adhd although they would threaten and try everything to get him on them.  Sounds like your sons school is taking a chance on you not knowing your rights as parents and getting cps involved as well.  These meds are not a matter of life and death and cannot be forced upon someone, cps can threaten but again they can only inforce what is a matter of safety and health.  Many children with adhd are better without the meds than with them and instead use therapy, diet and structure to control it.  To me the school is inflicting emotional abuse on the child by secluding him for something he has no control over, if he is not harming another child then they have went above board isolating him, do they isolate every child that doesn't act like a robot.  Call the superintendant of the school and request a meeting then call an attorney, most consultations are free and get their input on this.  The school needs to set up and IEP for your son as adhd can be classified as a learning disability and failing to do so they are failing to provide him with the proper education.  I could go on forever but it all boils down to they can not make you drug your child and as the parent you have to fight for your sons rights if you wish to take him off the meds.

Answer 10

Schools will try to force the issue, especially if you child is very problematic for them to deal with, but they cannot make you give your child those meds. You cannot make them keep your child in that school. If they have the option, they will transfer your child to an alt-ed school with smaller class sizes and more problematic kids like your child.

If they do not have that option, they will strongly suggest that you home school your child.

Social services will intervene only if being off the meds is causing the child harm or making the child a danger to others. If the school can prove either of those things, then they can get a court order forcing you to either place your child back on the meds or take your child away from you.

Amy makes a valid point in that you should have at least checked with your son's doctor about weaning him from the meds slowly rather than just cutting the meds off, however, as you were snowed in, I assume that you tried to call your doctor and were unable to get through or there was no other option.