An advocate was asked to get involved by a local school who were worried a child was being overmedicated by his family. 

The school had observed the parents struggling to manage the boy’s behaviour and particularly at the beginning of each week found the boy to be very drowsy and unable to relate to his surroundings.

 This had been reported to the social worker who was not prepared to raise the issue with the family saying they had enough to contend with as it was. 

The advocate eventually helped the parents see the impact that over medication was having and got advice for the parents on managing their son’s behaviour. (Source: The Children’s Society, as cited by Gov.uk, July 2009)