Frequent Network contributor Bill Lichtenstein (His name is Bill – and he is fighting seclusion and restraint) has a new article in the Huffington Post that chronicles issues leading up to the class action suit, Connor B. v. Patrick, which charges the Governor of Massachusetts and two child welfare officials with failing to protect the 7,500 foster kids in state custody from neglect and abuse.

• It’s been a tough couple of months for the Massachusetts child welfare system.

  Governor Deval Patrick and two child welfare officials are facing charges in U.S. District Court in a class action suit, Connor B. v. Patrick, which charges them with failing to protect the 7,500 foster kids in state custody from neglect and abuse.

  The lawsuit, filed by the New York-based Children’s Rights, charges that Massachusetts has one of the nation’s highest rates of abuse of foster children in the country — nearly four times the national standard — and cites a U.S. Government Accountability Office study that found nearly 40 percent of foster children in Mass. were prescribed psychiatric medications, compared to slightly more than 10 percent of children outside of state custody.

• Continue reading on the Huffington Post website.