During the 2005-06 school year, 40 percent of children in the state’s care took daily doses of psychotropic drugs — drugs that alter perception, emotion or behavior and that are used for a variety of mental and emotional conditions.

During that year, 3,107 children received 42,405 prescriptions for the drugs, an average of 13.6 prescriptions for each, according to an interim study report.

It cost the Medicaid system more than $4.6 million.

In the last legislative session, state Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha thought it was time for more monitoring of those drugs for children, and while her bill got out of committee, it didn’t go much further because of time.

So Thursday, she introduced the bill again. It was among a number of bills affecting children introduced on the first day for bill introductions.

LB52 would provide a task force to examine state policy regarding the prescribing and administration of those drugs to state wards. A report from the task force would be due on the first day of 2008.

Howard said she got interested in the issue when she saw the high number of children moving into adoption on high doses of medications.

She worried about the effects of the drugs and the fact that high caseworker loads and turnover influence the state’s ability to monitor those effects.

“We need to be honest about the best way to help children,” Howard said.

According to the study, there also may be inadequate training for how providers who take care of children prescribed those powerful drugs. And there may even be incentives for caretakers of children on those medications to qualify for higher levels of reimbursement.

The study also found that many of the drugs prescribed for behavior modification are not indicated for pediatric use.

Children who are prescribed medications instead of other therapies do not learn to control their own emotions or behaviors without the drugs.

Sarah Lewis, policy coordinator for Voices for Children in Nebraska, said her organization supported the review of protocol for prescribing the drugs and the process of monitoring their use by state wards.

Sometimes the drugs are necessary, she said, but in some cases it becomes too easy to medicate rather than fix a problem in other ways, such as psychotherapy or family support. And sometimes the doses are just too high.

Because of glitches in the system, it also happens that when a child moves from one placement to another, prescriptions don’t immediately follow, so they can go days or weeks without the drugs, which are supposed to be administered consistently.

The task force created by the bill would consist of laypersons and representatives for professions, organizations and governments, who would provide a report and recommendations.

Other bills on behalf of children introduced Thursday:

* LB54, introduced by Howard, would require new hires of child protection and safety workers, social workers and trainees to be eligible for certification as a social worker.

n LB47, introduced by Sen. Carol Hudkins, would make interfering with court-ordered child visitation a misdemeanor. And it would make the proof of conviction admissible as evidence in a civil action.

* LB6, introduced by Sen. Rich Pahls of Omaha, would create the Nebraska Safe Havens Act to allow the Health and Human Services System to accept any newborn a month old or younger offered voluntarily by a parent for placement in foster care. It would not constitute automatic termination of parental rights, a finding of abuse or neglect or violation of any criminal law for child abuse, neglect or abandonment.

* LB49, introduced by Sen. Carol Hudkins, would adopt the Mercury Vaccine and Drug Act, stating that by July 1, no vaccine or other drug administered in the state shall contain more than a trace of mercury, and by July 1, 2009, vaccines or drugs shall contain no amount, unless the recipient or his or her guardian signs a consent form.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.