Andrew Puhanic
Activist Post
June 12, 2012

In an another attempt by Big Brother to intrude on the development of our children, the Australian Federal Government has begun to systematically test three-year-old children for signs of mental illness via a national program aptly named “healthy kids check”.

The Australian Federal Government claims that the aim of the program is to improve the health and well-being of Australian children by identifying lifestyle risk factors that three-year-old children may be exposed to (for example, sleeping with the light on, having temper tantrums and being shy).

The healthy kids check program is expected to start July 1 2012 and will be predominantly managed by local General Practitioners who will be expected to report their findings to the Federal Government upon completion of an assessment form.

However, the Federal government is not only ordering general practitioners to look out for three-year-old children who are suffering from shyness, temper tensions and sleeping with the light on, they have also been instructed by the Federal Government to look out for the following “unusual” behaviours by three-year-old children:

Ask questions about eating habits (child’s appetite and variety of food they eat)
Ask questions about the child’s toilet habits (do they need assistance, can they go independently or does the child wet the bed)
Ask questions about the child’s behaviour and mood (how well do they sleep, what’s the social and emotional well-being of the child and can the child separate from the main carer.)

Many experts have warned that by introducing such intrusive checks at such an early age, doctors and general practitioners who are well-intentioned, will most likely end up prescribing antipsychotic medicines to 3-year-old children who are not technically suffering from any formal mental illness, but are simply showing signs of normal behaviour.

Professor Allen Frances, an American psychiatrist is quoted as saying

Many kids have developmental problems that disappear by themselves and it’s very difficult to evaluate in any given child whether the improvement resulted from treatment or just growing up. Before you have a mass national experiment like this, it needs to be carefully piloted to make sure that the harms are not going to be greater than the risks.

To put this initiative in perspective, let’s examine my own circumstance. I myself am a father of two (one and three-year old children). My one-year-old sleeps all night, eats most of what we give him and will sometimes get cranky. Should I be worried? My three-year-old on the other hand doesn’t always sleep all night, likes to eat baked beans on toast and not always eats a “variety” as described by the checklist and sometimes gets very cranky when she doesn’t get what she wants. Should I be worried about my three-year old daughter?

This initiative instigated by the Australian Federal government will lead to the over-prescription of drugs to children. However, the problem is not only localised in Australia, but is one that has the potential to affect all children around the world. In a study released by Medco Health Solutions Inc in the United States, it was revealed that over 25% of children and teens are taking some sort of prescription medication. Many of the prescription medicines identified in the study were statins, ADHD pills, antipsychotics, and sleeping pills. All of which have been shown to cause considerable harm.

The continuous encroachment of Federal Government Agencies into the lives of our children is alarming. In this example, testing three-year-old children for mental illness is not only unethical, it is wrong and immoral.

The mental well-being of children cannot be improved or modified by intervention from the Federal government and will only further exacerbate the difficulties both parents and society have in combating the globalist agenda and the continuous assaults on our freedoms and liberties from Governments around the world.

This article first appeared on Activist Post.

The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!