A Rant

This morning I read an article critical of the number of foster children who are on anti-psychotics. I found it interesting that the problem was that the children were being placed on drugs, not that they might need the medication.
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Daughter started on anti-psychotics at age 8. It was a very hard thing to do. I resisted it, and wasn't sure I was making the right decision until I saw the impact that the medication had on her. She has severe PTSD. She was having psychotic flashbacks. She was terrified of the bathroom and of bed. It reached the point where she wouldn't go into the bathroom without me. She refused to take baths, and the only way I could get her to shower was if she was with me and I was standing between Daughter and the drain. She was convinced that her brothers were waiting in the drain and were going to pull her down.
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She had moved throughout the house looking for a safe place to sleep. She tried her bedroom, the guest room, my closet, my floor, my bed, and had she had reached the point that the only way she could sleep was if she was in full body contact with me. She was a big girl, and she was sleeping on top of me.
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It was a major battle every morning to get her to school, because she didn't feel safe in her classroom. She was convinced there were snakes living in her desk, and she was afraid of the boys in her classroom. I could tell that she was hearing voices, too. Her therapist convinced me to take her to a psychiatrist, who prescribed an anti-psychotic. They assured me that the medication would make things easier.
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Within a day or so, she showered without me. It wasn't until I took my first shower alone that I realized how exhausting it had been for me. When I saw her quick improvement I knew I had made the right decision. She has been on anti-psychotic ever since-- 16 years now. She's been through a number of different medications. A medication will work for a while, and then the voices and hallucinations will start again.
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So I find myself wondering how many of those foster kids who are on anti-psychotics have issues similar to Daughter's. Would it have been better to refuse to put her on medication and let her struggle with vivid flashbacks? Should I have left her afraid to go to the bathroom or sleep? There are probably some of those children who don't need the medication. I would prefer, though, that rather than defining the problem as the fact so many kids are on medication that we define the problem as the fact that some of these children are so damaged they need medication.