. >> reporter: neglected tisha ortiz would steal quarters to buy food.age of four the state had already moved her in to foster care and by the time she exited the system, ortiz was taking 12 psych tropic pills a day. how old remember you when the doctors started prescribing you this medication and did they ever consult you what you wanted? >> at 14 was when i started taking these medications. at first when i was at the mental hospital, they sort of did, i was i wasn't on that many, i was only on two at first but until i went to the group home they started adding more and more. >> reporter: the cocktail of drugs left the once healthy team with serious side effects. >> i have like irregular heart beat. i have thyroid problems where it makes it very hard for me to lose weight. i felt like i wasn't really in control of my body. >> reporter: doctors prescribed psychiatric medication to about a quarter of teen i teenagers in california as foster system. in grope homes it's higher half of the children are on psych tropic pills the state spend more on these drug

. >> neglected tisha ortiz would steal quarters to buy food. by the time she exited the foster system she was taking 12 psychotropic pills a day. >> how old were you and did they ever consult you what you wanted? >> at 14 was when i started taking these medications. at first when i was at the mental hospital did. i wasn't on that many. i think i was only on two at first. but then i went to the group home they started adding more and more. >> reporter: the cocktail of drugs left the once healthy teen with serious side effects. >> i have like irregular heartbeat. i have thyroid problems where it makes me very hard to lose weight. i didn't feel like i was in control of my body. >> mariah another foster youth entered the system after witnessing her father murdering a child. >> the only thing i remember was moving home to home, placement to placement. i was traumatized. >> mariah's reaction, tantrums screaming throwing things. dorks eventuallydorkzdoctors eventually prescribed her 20 different antipsychotics. half of all children there are on psycho