After suicide of 7-year-old, agency finds serious shortcomings in monitoring of foster children on psychotropic drugs

Review finds shortfalls in monitoring of foster children on psychiatric drugs

13.19 percent, are taking one or more psychotropic medications

St. Petersburg Times | May 29, 2009

By Kris Hundley

Spurred by the shocking suicide of a 7-year-old on psychiatric drugs, the agency in charge of Florida’s foster children has discovered serious shortcomings in its monitoring of kids on such powerful prescriptions.

After reviewing its files, the Department of Children and Families determined it had undercounted the number of foster kids on such medications as Risperdal and Adderall, overlooking hundreds of cases.

It also has failed to meet its legal requirement that such prescriptions be given only after parental consent or court order.

On Thursday, DCF said a review of the files of more than 20,000 children currently in the state’s foster care showed 2,669, or 13.19 percent, are taking one or more psychotropic medications.

That compares with about 4 or 5 percent of children in the general population who are on such prescriptions.

Of those foster children taking drugs, DCF discovered 16 percent had no proof either a parent or judge had signed off on the prescription, as required by a 2005 Florida law.

“That is unacceptable,” said DCF Secretary George Sheldon. “We’re going to bring every single case of a foster child on drugs into compliance with the law.”

Concerns about pediatric use of antipsychotic and antidepressants such as Adderall and Risperdal have been growing along with increased warnings of such side effects as suicide, diabetes and weight gain. Few of the drugs have been tested or approved by the FDA for children, though physicians can prescribe them for this age group.

Robin Rosenberg, a Tampa lawyer and deputy director of Florida’s Children First, said advocacy groups like hers have been fighting for oversight of psychotropic drugs for years. “We’re not as far along as we should have been if the state had followed up on serious concerns starting in the late 1990s,” she said. “It’s a shame we’re in this place today.”

Sheldon, who was named to the top job at DCF in October, left no doubt that he had been deeply affected by Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old who hanged himself on a shower hose in South Florida in mid April. The boy was in his third foster home and on Vyvanse, a medication for ADHD, as well as Symbyax, a combination antipsychotic and antidepressant.

Though his caseworker repeatedly said Gabriel’s mother had agreed to the medications, that was not true. The boy’s psychotropic medications also had not been entered in the state’s tracking system.

To correct ongoing problems, Sheldon set a deadline of June 5 for action on cases without consent. This could include scheduling new doctors’ appointments, gaining informed consent from parents or expediting a judge’s review of the prescription.

Sheldon said he also was going to focus on the cases of 73 children under age 6 found to be on psychotropic drugs.

“I want a sense of urgency, but I also want to get it right,” he said. “I want to move forward, but I think it’s important for the agency to apologize for misinformation it may have put out in the past.”

Flaws in DCF’s record-keeping became clear in the immediate aftermath of Gabriel’s death. An initial review of the state’s database showed only 1,950 kids on psychotropic prescriptions. After a thorough review of individual records, however, that number grew by more than 700.

Preliminary data released in mid May also showed some questionable dates on judicial consent. Though it’s not inconceivable a judge might sign an order on a Saturday or Sunday, early returns showed weekend consent orders on 129 occasions.

The final database, including information on types of drugs and diagnoses, was not available Thursday. Sheldon said a summary of the drug data would be posted on the DCF Web site and updated weekly.

“I’ve got a lot more confidence in these numbers than I had two weeks ago,” he said. “But any database is only as good as the quality of the information being put into it.”

One ongoing area of concern, Sheldon said, is the validity of any consent given by parents whose kids are in the state’s custody.

“A parent whose child is taken into our care is going to sign virtually anything and that’s not informed consent,” he said. “My preference is that the biological parent have a dialogue with the psychiatrist.”

Now that DCF has a handle on the number of foster children on psychotropic drugs, Sheldon said the department can begin to address the bigger issue of the efficacy of such drugs.

He has asked an independent panel investigating Gabriel Myers’ death to make recommendations on improving DCF’s oversight of these medications. Sheldon said a second-party review of all such prescriptions might be necessary; currently, only prescriptions for kids under age 6 require such review.

DCF has set up a page on its Web site that tracks the progress of the panel investigation into the boy’s suicide. The page includes a photo of the smiling boy.

“We have his face on the screen watching us to see how well we learned from his life and death,” Sheldon said. “We cannot let him down.”

Teen forced into chemo

Straits Times | May 16, 2009

Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in January. - PHOTO: AP

MINNEAPOLIS – A MINNESOTA couple who refused chemotherapy for their 13-year-old son on religious grounds were ordered on Friday to have the boy re-evaluated to see if he would still benefit from the cancer treatment – or if it may already be too late.

Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg found Daniel Hauser has been ‘medically neglected’ by his parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser.

The judge allowed Daniel to stay with his parents, noting they love him and acted in good faith. But he gave them until Tuesday to get an updated chest X-ray and select an oncologist.

If the tumour has not grown and if Daniel’s prognosis remains as optimistic as doctors testified last week, then chemotherapy and possible radiation appear to be in Daniel’s best interest, Mr Rodenberg wrote.

‘The State has successfully shown by clear and convincing evidence that continued chemotherapy is medically necessary,’ he wrote, adding he would not order chemotherapy if doctors find the cancer has advanced to a point where it is ‘too late’. If chemotherapy is ordered and the family refuses, the judge said, Daniel will be placed in temporary custody. It was unclear how the medicine would be administered if the boy fights it.

Calvin Johnson, an attorney for Daniel’s parents, said the family is considering an appeal. For now, he said, Daniel is following the order and will have X-rays Monday.

Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January and it was recommended he have six rounds of chemotherapy. He underwent one round in February, but stopped after that single treatment. He and his parents opted instead for ‘alternative medicines,’ citing religious beliefs.

Doctors have said Daniel’s cancer had a 90 per cent chance of being cured with chemotherapy and radiation. Without those treatments, doctors said his chances of survival are 5 per cent.

Child protection workers accused Daniel’s parents of medical neglect, and went to court seeking custody. — AP

______

Related

Judge rules family can’t refuse chemo for boy

AP | May 16, 2009

By AMY FORLITI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge has ruled that a 13-year-old boy with a highly treatable form of cancer must seek conventional medical treatment over his parents’ objections.

In a 58-page ruling Friday, Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg found that Daniel Hauser has been “medically neglected” and is in need of child protection services.

Rodenberg said Daniel will stay in the custody of his parents, but Colleen and Anthony Hauser have until May 19 to get an updated chest X-ray for their son and select an oncologist

The judge wrote that Daniel has only a “rudimentary understanding at best of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy. … he does not believe he is ill currently. The fact is that he is very ill currently.”

Daniel’s court-appointed attorney, Philip Elbert, called the decision unfortunate.

“I feel it’s a blow to families,” he said. “It marginalizes the decisions that parents face every day in regard to their children’s medical care. It really affirms the role that big government is better at making our decisions for us.”

Elbert said he hadn’t spoken to his client yet. The phone line at the Hauser home in Sleepy Eye in southwestern Minnesota had a busy signal Friday. The parents’ attorney had no immediate comment but planned to issue a statement.

Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and stopped chemotherapy in February after a single treatment. He and his parents opted instead for “alternative medicines” based on their religious beliefs.

Child protection workers accused Daniel’s parents of medical neglect; but in court, his mother insisted the boy wouldn’t submit to chemotherapy for religious reasons and she said she wouldn’t comply if the court orders it.

Doctors have said Daniel’s cancer had up to a 90 percent chance of being cured with chemotherapy and radiation. Without those treatments, doctors said his chances of survival are 5 percent.

Daniel’s parents have been supporting what they say is their son’s decision to treat the disease with nutritional supplements and other alternative treatments favored by the Nemenhah Band.

The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians.

After the first chemotherapy treatment, the family said they wanted a second opinion, said Dr. Bruce Bostrom, a pediatric oncologist who recommended Daniel undergo chemotherapy and radiation.

They later informed him that Daniel would not undergo any more chemotherapy. Bostrom said Daniel’s tumor shrunk after the first chemotherapy session, but X-rays show it has grown since he stopped the chemotherapy.

“My son is not in any medical danger at this point,” Colleen Hauser testified at a court hearing last week. She also testified that Daniel is a medicine man and elder in the Nemenhah Band.

The family’s attorney, Calvin Johnson, said Daniel made the decision himself to refuse chemotherapy, but Brown County said he did not have an understanding of what it meant to be a medicine man or an elder.

Court filings also indicated Daniel has a learning disability and can’t read.

The Hausers have eight children. Colleen Hauser told the New Ulm Journal newspaper that the family’s Catholicism and adherence to the Nemenhah Band are not in conflict, and that she has used natural remedies to treat illness.

Nemenhah was founded in the 1990s by Philip Cloudpiler Landis, who said Thursday he once served four months in prison in Idaho for fraud related to advocating natural remedies.

Landis said he founded the faith after facing his diagnosis of a cancer similar to Daniel Hauser. He said he treated it with diet choices, visits to a sweat lodge and other natural remedies.

On the Net:

* Hauser case final argument briefs:

http://www.courts.state.mn.us/?pageNewsItemDisplay&item45848

* Nemenhah Band: http://www.nemenhah.org

Gene Revolution: Big Brother is Watching

The results will create a database, bringing the Sci-fi movie Gattaca to reality, enabling us to weed out the bad genes and focus on a perfect person.

Ivanhoe | May 8, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — We are beginning a genetic revolution. Babies are tested and families can learn their health risks. But what are the risks of taking the test? Could your employer ask you to take one? What about your health insurer? Could it be the next form of discrimination? Who is looking at your DNA? Ivanhoe shows you how you can protect yourself.

“It’s outrageous, appalling,” Jenny Nelson told Ivanhoe.

She is furious and upset about what happened just hours after giving birth to little Caeden.

“I didn’t question it,” Nelson said. “I didn’t have any idea to ask questions or anything. I just kind of do what they told me to do.”

It’s not the genetic test that upsets her. It’s where her baby’s blood sample and sample of her other two children ended up.

“All of my children’s are banked and I had no idea,” Nelson explained.

All states require genetic testing at birth, but after the results come back, where does the blood go?

“A database of genetic test results of newborn citizens is growing in every state around the country,” Twila Brase, R.N., a board member of the Citizens’ Council on Health Care in St. Paul, Minn., said.

Brase advocates for a parent’s right to know about genetic tests.

“Oftentimes what happens is that the hospital simply does it and it doesn’t tell the parents that they have any rights to object,” Brase said.

She fears the results will create a database, bringing the Sci-fi movie Gattaca to reality, enabling us to weed out the bad genes and focus on a perfect person

“The stored information is actually owned by the health department in every state, so the baby’s DNA essentially becomes government property and then it’s up to the government to decide what they want to let researchers do with that DNA,” Brase said.

“Is it a realistic possibility to end up with a national database of genetic information? Absolutely!” Sue Blevins, founder and president of the Institute for Health Freedom in Washington, D.C., said.

The first new law to protect our genetic information goes into effect in November. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prohibits genetic information from being used against you.

“We have seen cases of employers using genetic testing in an effort to weed out employees,” Susannah Baruch, J.D., the law and policy director at Johns Hopkins University’s Genetics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said. “The genetic tests themselves are sort of dubious scientific value and now the law says that we will not be able to ask people to take those tests either.”

Proving discrimination is difficult and knowing exactly where the information is going is almost impossible

“Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s really hard to know what’s being done with that information,” Blevins explained. “It’s hard to get it back in the bottle.”

What if people knew Franklin D. Roosevelt would get polio? If a test proved Ronald Reagan would suffer from Alzheimer’s, would you have voted for him? How will genetic information impact your future?

It’s the fear of the unknown that kept Victoria Groves from revealing her family’s secret for years.

“Typically physicians don’t test for this disorder that’s caused by genes and so what happens by the time you are tested, your lungs are very damaged, and it’s irreversible,” Grove said. “There’s no cure.”

Grove’s own immune system is destroying her lungs.

“Your immune system, I think, takes a hit and you tend to get sick a lot,” Grove said.

Her younger sister died from alpha-one deficiency. Another sister is diagnosed with it. Then Grove was privately tested.

“I was positive and I decided not to tell anybody at that time, because I wasn’t sure of the ramifications,” Grove explained.

She feared her health insurance would be canceled, but she came down with pneumonia and was forced to tell her doctor. Experts say fearing what may happen prevents many people like Grove from getting the medical attention they need. Blevins believes laws need to be tighter. She’s fighting for the three C’s. First, the right to consent.

“Nothing is done without you — without your permission,” she explained.

Second is confidentiality.

“We need a law that says you get to determine who can see your information,” Blevins said.

And third is contract. Each person should have the right to pay for genetic tests through private companies

“If the federal government becomes the payer of everybody’s health care and everybody’s genetic test, they will have information to that,” Blevins said.

But until new rules and regulations are formed, experts say the genetic dilemma is in your hands.

“For someone considering genetic testing, understanding what’s the point of the test, how can it help me and are there any drawbacks to knowing this information about my future risk, those are all important questions and those should all be addressed by an individual in thinking about whether to have a genetic test or not,” Baruch said.

For Grove, revealing her secret helped her get better medical care. She didn’t lose her insurance and she’s getting the support she needs

“I think it’s made me stronger because I feel like I have tools and I have support,” she said.

It’s opening her eyes and ours to the benefits and the risks of genetic testing.

A recent Gallup poll revealed that 93 percent of Americans believe doctors should ask for consent to use their genetic information for research.

Youth mental illness costs U.S. billions

Reuters | Feb 13, 2009

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mental illness, substance abuse and behavioral problems among children and young adults, costs the United States $247 billion a year in treatment and lost productivity alone, an expert panel said on Friday.

The panel set up by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine which advise U.S. policymakers urged the White House to set prevention goals and coordinate government action to attack the problem.

The panel looked at the financial toll from mental illnesses including depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, as well as drug and alcohol abuse and behavioral problems by people up to age 24.

It concluded that treatment and lost productivity costs alone reached an estimated $247 billion annually. That figure excluded criminal justice and education, workplace disruption and social welfare spending which would certainly add many billions more to the price tag.

“It’s a lot of money,” said Kenneth Warner, dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, who headed the panel.

The estimate came as the Obama administration and many lawmakers look for ways to improve U.S. healthcare, which is the world’s most expensive but lags many other countries in some quality measures.

Some school-based and other programs have effectively reduced mental health, substance abuse and behavioral problems but federal leadership has been lacking, the panel said.

“We really can prevent a lot of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders,” Warner said.

Too much television can make children ‘mentally ill’

Too much television can make children ‘mentally ill’ Photo: GETTY

Too much television and time spent on the internet can make children mentally ill, an in-depth report has concluded.

Telegraph | Feb 2, 2009

Excessive exposure makes a child materialistic, which in turn affects their relationship with their parents and their health.

That is one of the conclusions of a new wide-ranging survey into British childhood, produced for the Children’s Society.

It says that children are part of a new form of consumerism, with under 16 year-olds spending £3 billion of their own money each year on clothes, snacks, music, video games and magazines.

The report claims that some advertisers “explicitly exploit the mechanism of peer pressure, while painting parents as buffoons” and that in its most extreme form, advertising persuades children that “you are what you own”.

In addition the “constant exposure” to celebrities through, TV soaps, dramas and chat shows is having a detrimental effect.

It says: “Children today know in intimate detail the lives of celebrities who are richer than they will ever be, and mostly better-looking. This exposure inevitably raises aspirations and reduces self-esteem.”

It adds the way celebrities are portrayed “automatically encourages the excessive pursuit of wealth and beauty.”

This “media-driven consumerism” is having a negative effect on a child’s wellbeing, the report says.

It highlights a study into the effect of consumerism on the psychological wellbeing of 10-13 year-olds.

That study found: “Other things being equal, the more a child is exposed to the media (television and Internet), the more materialistic she becomes, the worse she relates to her parents and the worse her mental health.”

The Good Childhood inquiry, compiled by more than 35,000 contributors is independent of the Church of England affiliated society but has been endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

It takes an in-depth look at the changing face of childhood and family life in Britain, and the challenges facing youngsters today.

The report has found that only a quarter of children with mental health problems get any specialist help, and one in 10 five to 16-year-olds now have mental health issues, ranging from anxiety or depression to conduct disorders such as destructive behaviour.

It claims that the upward trend of violence in the media in general, is making children violent and causing tension within the family.

The report says: “We know from controlled studies that exposure to violence can breed violence.

“So it seems likely that the upward trend in media violence is helping to produce the upward trend in violent behaviour – and also the growth of psychological conflict in family relationships.”

The report also notes that commercial pressures have led to the “premature sexualisation” of young people.

It notes that young people are having sex earlier because of “many forces”, including “more privacy when both parents work, more contraception, commercial pressures toward premature sexualisation, and fundamental changes in attitude”.

The report recommends that sex and relationships, and understanding of the media should be a compulsory part of the personal, social and health curriculum.

And it says advertising of unhealthy foods and alcohol should be banned before 9pm.

A New Generation Of Eco-Warriors

“It would seem that men and women need a common motivation, namely a common adversary, to organize and act together in the vacuum such as motivation seemed to have ceased to exist or have yet to be found. The need for enemies seems to be a common historical factor. Bring the divided nation together to face an outside enemy, either a real one or else one INVENTED for the purpose…

Democracy will be made to seem responsible for the lagging economy, the scarcity and uncertainties. The very concept of democracy could then be brought into question and allow for the seizure of power.

In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. The real then is humanity itself.”

- “The First Global Revolution” (1991) published by the Club of Rome.

* * *

She’s a stickler for turning off the lights, makes her mom wash her clothes in cold water and even dressed up as a recycling bin for Halloween.

They’re Nagging Their Parents To Save The Planet

CBS | Jan 27, 2009

by Ben Tracy

Frances Kretschmer painted her room green and joined her school's eco club in California - and she dressed as a recycling bin last halloween.

GOLETA, Calif. – When the Behre family comes in from the Pennsylvania cold, their coats often stay on.

Their mom keeps the temperature at 66 degrees – not just to save money, but because her middle-school-aged daughters, Jane and Annie, insist, CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports.

“We are inheriting all the problems that we are facing so we need to start dealing with those problems now,” Jane said.

The girls are part of a new generation of eco-warriors, teaching their parents about conservation and recycling.

“God forbid one of them walks in and see me getting ready to throw it in the trash they will scream at me,” said the girls’ mother, Leah Ingram.

Related

• Kids have become pint-sized Eco-Nazis
• Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy
• Army of child spies being trained to report neighbors for eco-crimes
• Beware your children: They might be ‘Climate Cops’

The green gospel is now being preached in kids movies and even on their Girl Scout patches. Three years ago, one environmental education group was working with 150 teachers nationwide – now they are training 1,000 and their curriculum is in close to 10,000 schools.

“They’re learning in school they hear their friends talk about it. I think there is a real buzz especially with young people,” said Michael Oko of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Frances Kretschmer painted her room green and joined her school’s eco club in California. She’s a stickler for turning off the lights, makes her mom wash her clothes in cold water and even dressed up as a recycling bin for Halloween.

“You can recycle that costume next year.”

This past Christmas, Frances convinced her parents to get a very un-traditional tree that they planted after the holidays. She didn’t, however, hook her younger brother, Miles.

“I don’t really like it very much,” Miles said. “It’s cool though.”

Some of Frances’ eco-sensibilities came from her grandmother, who often picks her up from school on a fuel-efficient tandem bike. Yet bringing her parents along for the ride isn’t always smooth.

“I want my dad to take less showers and I want him to ride his bike to work,” she said.

“She is our environmental consciences. She keeps us honest,” said her mother, Charlotte Bregante.

And they are saving green – trimming $50 off the electrical bill and spending less onf the clothes Frances will only buy second-hand.

“My mom likes to do anything good for the environment that saves money too,” Frances said.

That’s a green lesson both parents are still teaching their kids.

‘Warped’ teen convicted of shooting his parents in the head after they took away his X-Box game

A teenager convicted of killing his mother ‘may have had his mind warped by playing a violent video game’, a judge heard.

Daily Mail | Jan 14, 2009

17-year-old Daniel Petric went into his parents room and shot them both with a shotgun after they took away a video game

17-year-old Daniel Petric shot both his parents in the head with a shotgun after they took away his video game.

He then fled the house in Lorain County, Ohio, U.S., clutching his copy of ‘Halo 3′, one of the flagship titled for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console.

The father, Mark Petric, a church minister, survived the shooting, but Susan Petric died from the gunshot wound.

Prosecutors said Petric planned to kill his parents because he was angry that his father would not allow him to play the video game, in which players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth.

On the night of the shooting in october 2007, Petric used his father’s key to open a lockbox and remove a 9mm handgun and the game.

Mark Petric testified that his son came into the room and asked: ‘Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you.’

He testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Anthony Cillo argued during the trial that the teenager had planned to make it appear to be a murder-suicide by putting the gun in his father’s hand.

Although the defence did not contest the facts around the shooting, Defense Attorney James Kersey argued the teenager was not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming the computer game had affected his sense of reality.

Violent: Halo 3 is rated 15

He said that when the teenager fled the grisly scene, he only took one item with him: the ‘Halo 3′ game.

Judge James Burge said, ‘I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever’.

However he rejected the insanity plea, and said that while Petric may have been addicted to the game, the evidence showed he planned the crime for weeks.

The teenager was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges.

Tried as an adult, Petric faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole. The judge did not set a sentencing date.

As the verdict was read the teenager turned to his father, who gave him an encouraging nod. He has previously stated he has forgiven his son.

The ‘Halo’ games are produced by Bungie LLC, once part of Microsoft. The flagship series is credited with selling millions of Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles

Microsoft, which owns the intellectual copyright of the game, declined to comment beyond a statement: ‘We are aware of the situation and it is a tragic case.’

Kids have become pint-sized Eco-Nazis

They moan about lights, whine if you don’t recycle and nag you for using the car… Our kids have become pint-sized Eco-Nazis.

After coating Britain in CCTV cameras, the Government is nurturing a battalion of child spies, an army of ethically minded Veruca Salts, to harry and hector the badly behaved adults of 21st-century Britain.

Daily Mail | Nov 27, 2008

By Brendan O’Neill

When I was a child, ‘pester power’ meant stamping one’s feet in a shop. It involved little more than begging one’s mum in an irritating voice for the latest He-Man figure or for one of those unusually thick pink milkshakes from a place called McDonald’s.

It was a feeble force, this alleged power of the pest, easily quashed by a clip around the lughole or by that most ominous threat issued by mums-in-distress: ‘Just you wait until your dad gets home.’

How times have changed. Today, ‘pester power’ is a powerful political tool.

New Labour is explicitly recruiting children to its climate change and respect agendas – its illiberal, conformist, thought-policing programmes of ‘good behaviour’ promotion – in the hope that they might, ‘use their pester power in a positive way: reminding grown-ups how to behave’.

After coating Britain in CCTV cameras, the Government is nurturing a battalion of child spies, an army of ethically minded Veruca Salts, to harry and hector the badly behaved adults of 21st-century Britain.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported the emergence in New York of ‘pint-size eco-police’ – ‘environmentally conscious children’ who ‘pour scorn’ on their parents for everything from leaving the lights on to failing to sort their egg boxes from their bottle tops when recycling the weekly rubbish. Experts refer to them as an ‘army of eco-kids’ who have been ’steeped in environmentalism at school, in houses of worship, through scouting and even via popular culture’.

This is no American curiosity. Here, too, children are actively encouraged, by the authorities and by popular culture, to monitor their parents’ environmental behaviour. Eco-Schools, a governmentfunded scheme active in 5,500 schools around the UK, calls on teachers to integrate environmentalism into the curriculum as a way of empowering children to police their parents. Andrew Suter, head of the scheme, says it allows kids to ‘tell their parents what to do for a change’.

Related

Fascist Ecology: The “Green Wing” of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents

Cue thousands of ethically empowered pests nagging their folks about how often they use the washing machine or what kind of petrol they put in the car.

Parents aren’t happy. At a school in Worcestershire one mum complained: ‘Can you please tell my daughter that we are allowed to have some lights on – she’s got us sitting in the dark like mushrooms.’

Michael, a dad- of-two in North London, tells me his daughter recently came home from school with an ‘eco check-list’ to find out how green their home is. ‘I used to help her with her homework. Now her homework is about helping me to be a better person!’ he fulminates.

Politicising pester power is all the rage in green-leaning education circles. David Uzzell, a professor of environmental psychology at the University of Surrey, reports attending an educational conference a couple of years ago where ‘everyone was absolutely convinced. . . that “pester power” was the answer [to the problem of climate change]‘.

A 2006 report by the Department of Trade and Industry said environmental energy efficiency should be made into ‘an integral part of [a child's] mindset’ so that he or she can help to ’shape attitudes in the wider community’ and bring about ‘the desired cultural shift’.

The illiberal, one might even say Maoist, bent to this campaign to turn children into eco-cops is made clear in the book How To Turn Your Parents Green by James Russell, published last year.

It encourages children to ‘nag, pester, bug, torment and punish the people who are merrily wrecking our world’ – that is, grown-ups, or ‘groans’, who spend their time ’slumped in front of the TV’ or ’salivating over a holiday brochure’ and who poison the world with ‘Revolting rubbish, fiendish fertilisers and pestilential pesticides’.

Russell says children should ‘channel their pester power’, ‘gripe’ for organic carrots, and issue fines against their parents and other ‘ transgressors’ of the environmentalist code. Children should be the ‘guardians of the glorious green future’, pestering groans until they sign up to a green charter.

Bullying and bugging the ‘transgressors’ of eco-orthodoxy . . . children as the heralds of a glorious green future . . . harnessing children’s pester power to bring about the Government’s desired cultural shift in eco-attitudes – I can’t be the only person who is freaked out by this ominous language.

How long before children carry around little green books and snitch on their parents to a glorious green council if they book a cheap flight or eat an apple imported from Kenya?

When children are not snooping for ‘climate crimes’ in the home, as James Russell describes it, they have been co-opted into spying on adults on the streets. In April last year, the Government’s Respect Task Force launched a competition in schools to find children to provide ‘the voice’ for the first talking CCTV cameras – cameras that not only watch us, but tell us off, too.

In 20 towns and cities, children at schools were asked to design posters that challenged antisocial behaviour. The winning designers were invited to sit in their local CCTV control rooms on the day that the truly Orwellian ‘talking cams’ were unveiled, from where they admonished citizens for littering, loitering, drinking and so on.

The Respect Task Force said this was about getting kids to ‘use their pester power in a positive way, reminding grown-ups how to behave’.

Last month, it was reported that councils around the country are recruiting young people as ‘junior streetwatchers’ to spy on, and even photograph and video, people who commit dog-fouling, littering or bin crimes (i.e. putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bins, or allowing it to spill on to the street).

Some councils refer to these juniors as ‘covert human intelligence sources’ and have even give them James Bond- style code names. Ealing Council in West London admitted that ‘hundreds of junior streetwatchers, aged eight to ten, [have been] trained to identify and report enviro-crime issues such as graffiti and fly-tipping’.

Harlow Council in Essex said it has 25 ’street-scene champions’, all aged between 11 and 14, who are encouraged to email or telephone the council if they suspect that an enviro-crime – ranging from vandalism of bus shelters to large-scale littering – has been committed. It is the mark of a truly authoritarian regime to recruit children to nag out-of-tune parents or to spy on disobedient citizens.

A writer for the Guardian celebrates eco-pester power on the basis that children make ‘natural campaigners – no shades of grey, no nuanced arguments, just loads of passion and clarity’. Yes, and that is also why ruthless governments, from the Soviets to Maoists, cultivated zealous little police-kids: because childish minds are easily moulded to accept political orthodoxies.

In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, it was ‘almost normal for people over 30 to be frightened of their own children’ because they were ‘ungovernable little savages’ who spied for the Party.

Before we become scared of our kids, too – as they patrol our homes, speak to us from CCTV cameras or squeal on us to councils – I suggest dealing with this politicised pester power in the same way my mum dealt with my childish demands: by administering a collective clip around the lughole to the child spies.

Public scared of children who ‘behave like animals’

Much of the public is scared of children, with half saying British children behave like animals and pose an increasing danger, according to a survey.

Telegraph | Nov 16, 2008

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor

A third of people say our streets are “infested” by young yobs and four in ten refer to children as “feral”.

The survey was conducted by children’s charity Barnardo’s, which says it was shocked by the findings.

The charity will today launch a new campaign urging the public to be more tolerant, including a hard-hitting internet advert that features three men “hunting” children with shotguns.

The YouGov poll for Barnardo’s showed some 54 per cent of adult think children are beginning to behave like animals.

Just under half (49 per cent) said children are increasingly a danger to each other and adults, and four in ten (43 per cent) said something needed to be done to protect the public from youngsters.

A third (35 per cent) of people said it now feels like the streets are infested with children and 45 per cent agree that people refer to children as feral because they behave that way.

Half (49 per cent) also dismissed suggestions children who get into trouble are often misunderstood and in need of professional help.

The new advert is based entirely on language gleaned from online comment pages and shows three men refering to some unknown pest as feral and vermin before grabbing shotguns and taking to the streets, where it becomes apparent they are referring to gangs of children.

Barnardo’s Chief Executive and former Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Narey said he was shocked by the results and had expected far lower figures.

Mr Narey said: “It is appalling that words like ‘animal’, ‘feral’ and ‘vermin’ are used daily in reference to children.

“These are not references to a small minority of children but represent the public view of all children. Despite the fact that most children are not troublesome there is still a perception that today’s young people are a more unruly, criminal lot than ever before.

“The British public overestimates, by a factor of four, the amount of crime committed by young people. The real crime is that this sort of talk and attitude does nothing to help those young people who are difficult, unruly or badly behaved to change their ways.”

The charity said there is an unjustified and disturbing intolerance of children, despite the vast majority making positive contributions to their communities, attending school, taking part in activities and a significant number volunteering.

A report, Breaking the Cycle, insists children who are troublesome and engage in antisocial and criminal behaviour are often those most in need of support.

Mr Narey added: “Barnardo’s is not naïve: we recognise that a minority of children are anti-social and some commit crimes.

“When that happens, both in the interests of the child and in the interests of the victims, firm action needs to be taken.

“But the vast majority of children are decent, enthusiastic, caring and conscientious. The minority who are not, and those who do start down the path of bad behaviour can be helped to change direction. Simply expelling them from school or locking them up frequently does nothing to help them mend their ways.”

Shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, said: “These shocking statistics should sound an alarm bell for the future. We know that under this Government increasing numbers of children are both falling into – and falling victim to – crime. The Government’s failure to address this has now led to a huge proportion of all children being written off by the public. The government’s lax approach to the problems of youth crime has undermined public trust, and is betraying a whole generation of young people.”

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesperson said: “The majority of our young people are participating well and making a positive contribution. However, we recently announced extra funding for positive activities on Friday and Saturday nights in neighbourhoods where crime and anti social behaviour are a concern.

“Preventing young people from getting into trouble by offering them positive activities is the best way to tackle the minority of young people who cause disruption.”

Japanese ‘giving up on sex’

Japan is facing a crisis in the bedroom that threatens the very future of the nation, according to the head of the nation’s Family Planning Association.

Telegraph | Nov 14, 2008

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo

A new study by Dr. Kunio Kitamura has revealed that more than one third of all couples in Japan have effectively given up on sex, with most complaining they are too tired after work or that it is “boring.”

“The results are a surprise because the numbers keep going up each year,” said Dr. Kitamura.

In 2004, 32 per cent of Japanese admitted to not having sexual intercourse in the previous month. That number has now risen to 37 per cent, according to a report that will be presented to the Ministry of Health and Welfare next year.

“Of course, if people are not having sex then there will be fewer children,” Dr. Kitamura said.

Japan’s birth rate stood at 1.34 in 2007, far below the replenishment rate of 2.08 babies that is required for a stable population.

The country’s population, which peaked at around 127.7 million in 2006, is predicted to decline to 95 million by 2050. And if drastic measures to encourage people to have more sex and more children don’t succeed then there will be a mere 47.7 million Japanese at the turn of the next century.

The Japanese government recognises that it has a problem with a declining birth rate, which will inevitably lead to a population dominated by elderly people who will need to have their pensions and health care funded by a shrinking group of workers, and is seeking ways to halt the decline.

Proposals for increased payments for parents, more time off work after the birth of a child and increased access to health and education opportunities have been welcomed, but have not led to a flood of new arrivals.

Dr. Kitamura has a more basic approach to the problem: achieving a balance between work and life and communication.

“People are working too hard today and the most important piece of advice I would give to couples is for them to go home as early as possible after work and communicate with their partners,” he says. “Not communicating is the main reason why so many marriages are sexless.”