TUSKEGEE REVISITED

This story from the Sun-Times shows DCFS putting the "loco" back in "in loco parentis":

Government-funded researchers tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of foster children over the past two decades, often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states, an Associated Press review has found.

The research funded by the National Institutes of Health spanned the country. It was most widespread in the 1990s as foster care agencies sought treatments for their HIV-infected children that weren't yet available in the marketplace. ***

Several studies that enlisted foster children reported patients suffered side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells. In one study, researchers reported a "disturbing" higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. ***

Illinois officials believe none of their nearly 200 foster children in AIDS studies got independent monitors even though researchers signed a document guaranteeing "the appointment of an advocate for each individual ward participating in the respective medical research." (emphasis added)

Here is sample DCFS consent form specifying the protections that should have been granted to the foster kids participating in the clinical trials.

Here is a list of 47 clinical trials performed by researchers in Illinois.

I'm afraid I don't have any insight or answers on what -- if anything -- should be done about this, but I just think that a tale of poor and brown children being treated like lab rats merits more attention than it has received.