The World & I MagazineM O D E R N T H O
U G H T
DECEMBER 1999
For the Love of Laura
When the Foster Care System Endangers Children
By Beverly R. Newman
" Because of their victimization in and by the system, foster children
often receive drug regimens, psychiatric treatments, and foster placements
that are substandard, untested, unsafe, and even illegal. One psychiatric
treatment used on foster children is known as holding
therapy, hugging
therapy, or therapeutic hold, an approach that is controversial among
professionals and the public. There are many varieties of this therapy, one
of which calls for children to be restrained through physical force against
their will. The idea behind the hold here is to scare the child into
submission.
One foster parent seeking help for a toddler, who had been molested
by her biological family, watched the therapist perform "holding therapy" on
the little girl. He wrapped his long legs around her struggling body as she
screamed and begged to be let go. The foster mom stood there crying while
the therapist gloated: "Next time she doesn't obey you, just tell her
you're
going to give her holding therapy." To justify being paid for such
violent
treatment of the child, he diagnosed her as having "a possible mood
disorder." With this diagnosis, he could make hundreds of dollars per week
administering a legalized torture procedure..."