and can we trust the good news about jobs that seems to be on the way? arsenic and apple juice. another troubling report. and tonight, after their televised duel, dr. mehmet oz and our dr. richard besser sit down together to weigh in on what families should do. and, made in america. our team goes door to door with a challenge. will you spend some of your christmas dollars to help create jobs? from dallas to pittsburgh, you have been answering the call. good evening. tonight, we begin with an abc news exclusive investigation, an indictment of what the u.s. government does to some of the most vulnerable children in this country. we have spent a year investigating a horrible secret. tens of thousands of foster care children, even infants, given

powerful drugs, at times in doses and combinations considered too risky even for adults. and remember this statistic. foster children are given these potent drugs at an alarming 13 times the rate of other children. tomorrow, a government gao report will paint a portrait of a grotesque failure to protect foster children. but over the past year, so many of them have come forward to us to tell us about their lives, young kids living sometimes as sleepwalkers, sometimes reeling out of control. >> these are the memds that i've been taking since i was 4. one, two, three -- 11, 12, 13. >> lexapro. the last one is abilify. the medications made me feel like i had 1,000 bricks on my head. >> reporter: they are tiny witnesses that came out of the shadows to show us the mountain of drugs, andy me pleasants,

ant anti-psychotic drugs, they were given in america's foster care system. >> i was just a zombie. >> reporter: keep in mimd, these are children who have already been dealt a hand from hell, in homes of neglect and abuse, bounced from foster home to foster home. >> i was in 28 homes. i felt sad because no one would keep me or love me. >> reporter: consider the case of 7-year-old brooke, taken from a drug-addicted mother, just 43 pounds. but given five mind-altering drugs at the same time, a combination that is deemed too risky even for adults. >> brooke, you need to get down. >> no. >> come here, brooke. >> reporter: and foster parents who want to help soon learn that if they don't give medications, the child would be taken away. >> no one said the medications could be causing the problem. they were saying she needs more. >> reporter: in brooke's case, one doctor, a psychiatrist, recognized the problem. and brooke went from this, being

weaned off the strongest medications, to this. >> no adult should be receiving the drugs of that different variety. certainly not at thesages. >> reporter: delaware senator tom krarper is holding a congressional hearing tomorrow demanding changes in the foster care system in this country. parallel to the year-long abc news investigation, the gao report, which found, in some cases, psycho tropic drugs were given to inplants, though there's no idea of the long-term effects on a child's brain. and the report found in five statements alone, out of 100,000 foster kids, 26,000 were on some form of psychotropic drugs. how is it happening? >> when you don't have the time, the quick rush to judgment is, the answer is a pill. >> reporter: this prominent child advocate says these children are issuing a cry for help. when we read that foster kids

are medicated up to 13 times more than other kids, is it because they are a more troubled populati population? >> they are troubled. there's no question that they can be troubled. very troubled. given what they've gone through. the answer isn't always try to change their brain chemistry. >> reporter: medications that can keep a child from his life. look at 11-year-old ke'onte, prescribed 12 medications over the force of four years, for conditions doctors now say he didn't have. >> i'm not adhd. i'm just naughty. i'm not bipolar at all. >> this is footage of ke'onte trying to come off these medications. and this is ke'onte today. ♪ he's in honors classes in school and he got one prescription that heals beyond imagining. ke'onte has been adopted. >> now you're part of the family. >> reporter: which takes us back to brooke, remember her?

she, too, has a permanent hug, a mom, a dad, a home. >> yeah, you hug all the anger out, right? she just hugs and hugs and hugs and gets all the anger out. >> so, who is responsible? and by the way, your taxpayer dollars are paying for this, medicaid pays for these drugs. well, tomorrow, i will question the federal drug administration and sharyn alfonsi goes out to track down doctors prescribing these medications. and now, we turn to wall street, and a question. is it possible santa came early this year? bringing the kind of super sonic surge we haven't seen in this country in more than two years. the dow up nearly 500 points, which means the average investor pocketed $4,000 before the bell rang today. and it comes with anticipation of some good news about jobs and abc's dan harris is here to unpack the early gift for us. dan? >> ni >> reporter: nice to be here, diane. we had a trio of good news

headlines that put this stock market on a rocket ride. rocket booster number one, and this is a big one. the federal reserve and central banks from all over the world announced a coordinated effort to stabilize europe, which has been teetering on the brink of recession, threatening to bring america down with it. >> and if europe goes down there will be repercussions for us and if a full-blown panic goes out and we saw in 2008, there really is nowhere to hide. >> reporter: rocket booster number two, american jobs. a new report today says american companies hired 206,000 new workers last month. the best month for hiring in nearly a year. >> over half the jobs came from small business sector and that suggests that we're starting to see new business formation pick up, which is critical to have sustained recovery going forward. >> reporter: rocket booster number three, china cults interest rates. boosting its own economy, making it easier for chinese companies and workers to borrow money, and, perhaps, buy american

products. for the past four months, the stock market has been on a crazy roller coaster ride. look at this graph. experts say investors should stick to your financial plan and try not to look at your portfolio too afternoon. >> that's the best advice i can give. if i knew what the market was going to do, i would own my own island in the caribbean. >> reporter: wouldn't we are. there are still looming problems out there. the krurpen crisis could take years to be solved. you can call this market a lot of things, diane, but you cannot call it boring. >> no, you can't. thank you for the merry news, at least, on one night. thank you, dan. and now to politics, your voice, your vote. and a rousing show of support for the republican contender battered by those allegations he carried on a 13-year affair. today, herman cain heard crowds screaming "stay the course." abc's jon karl tells us about it. >> reporter: when we caught up with cain today in ohio, he sure

didn't look like a candidate about to call it quits. are you going to drop out, mr. cain? >> we are reassessing. >> reporter: reassessing, but still liking his chances. >> suprters are -- it's been a groundswell of support. >> reporter: and the cain campaign is about to launch a brand new tv ad in iowa, his first. >> if you make me america's ceo, we, the people, will take this country back. we can do this. >> reporter: but on "good morning america," cain's former friend ginger white offered new details on what she says was a 13-year affair with cain. >> i've received gifts and money for the last two and a half years, consistently. >> did he ask for anything in return for that money? >> ah -- no. this was not sex for cash. >> reporter: cain acknowledging giving her money. >> i was doing this because of the job market. and so, this -- she's not the only person that i have helped.

>> reporter: in ohio today, cain's supportered seemed to believe his denials. >> they want you to believe that we can't do this. they want you to believe that with enough character assassination on me that i will drop out. >> reporter: he plans to spend the upcoming weekend with his family and only after that make a decision about whether or not to continue his campaign. diane? >> okay, jon, thank you. and today, another wakeup call about the apple juice so many of us drink and give our children. you'll remember the fiery debate when dr. mehmet oz first raised questions about the level of arsenic in the juice. it was joined by our own dr. richard besser. well, today, we learned dr. oz's suspicions were right. consumer reports found troubling levels of arsenic and lead in some samples. in a moment, dr. oz and our dr. besser will weigh in together on

what this means. and what to do. but first, abc's linsey davis breaks down the new findings. >> reporter: dr. oz was first to raise the alarm. >> some of the best known brands in america have arsenic in their apple juice. >> reporter: he was quickly shot down by our own dr. besser, backed by the fda, which said arsenic levels were low and that what oz found was a mostly harmless found of arsenic. >> getting those results confirmed by other labs. no good scientist would ever do that kind of work. >> reporter: but today, new tests and fresh alarms. consumer reports tested 88 samples of juice and found 10% had arsenic levels higher than the government allows for drinking water. not the harmless form, but most lick the dangerous form. and it's not just found in apple juice. they also tested grape juice, actually a large number of fruit juices list apple juice as their primary ingredient.

pediatricians already recommend that infants under 6 months don't drink any and children under 7 drink no more than four to six ounces per day. but many children drink much more than that. would say the typical kid drinks more juice than water. >> reporter: the fda says its confident in the overall safety of juice. but admits they found some samples with higher arsenic levels than they first revealed. right now, the government has no standards for arsenic in juices. so, we asked the industry today why they don't act on their own. just to help parents breathe easier, rest assure that it's safe, why not just limit it yourgs? >> arsenic is a naturally occurring element that occurs in trace levels in our food, our water, our air. trace levels of arsenic are not a problem. trace levels of arsenic are safe. >> reporter: the juice makers say the government needs to set the standards. and the fda tells us based on some of these elevated levels, they're considering doing just that. linsey davis, abc news, new york.

>> and now, here, together, side-by-side, our own dr. richard besser and dr. mehmet oz. help us grasp at home how serious this is. what does this arsenic do in the bodies of children? >> reporter: well, there's data on risk to cancer from long-term chronic exposure. i haven't seen good data on what is the impact of low level long-term exposure in children. i think we need more information in terms of the risk of arsenic. >> we believe the elevated chronic exposure to arsenic can cause heart disease, we know it is associated with cancer, skin disorders. >> i'm saying, why give them four ounces? why give them six or eight, period? >> well, i've had these discussions with the fda and with the juice association, i made this point. these are products that are supposed to be healthy. if we can't assure them they're safe, just have tap water.

if you get the numbers low enough, it's safe. until then, the jury's out. >> reporter: arsenic exists in the environment. it's in soil, in air, it's in water. but until you set standards, until you decide, okay, here's the threshold and you start testing, you're not going to be able to say. >> make you mad you went into battle with insufficient facts? >> reporter: oh, yeah. what bothers me the most is when we spoke before, the information i had from the fda was incorrect. you were right. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> and we thank both of the doctors for being with us today. and still ahead on "world news," the man who tried to kill president reagan. what the secret service saw him do on a street that raised alarm. and an uncomfortably close encounter with a great white shark. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana...

they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

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the men who tr man who trie president reagan was in court today, asking the judge for still more freedom. hinckley has made these requests before, but today there was a revelation about his behavior when he's out on the street. abc's pierre thomas is in washington. >> reporter: at today's hearing, prosecution revealed the secret service had hinckley urn surveillance. he was visiting his mother in williamsburg, virginia, when he faked going to the movies, but instead, headed to a barnes & noble where he read books about president reagan and presidential assassinations. >> if he's that obsessed, what -- a reasonable person would say, "he might want to go try something else." >> reporter: authorities also claim it was concerning that hinckley searched the internet for photographs of his female dentist. hinckley is currently living in a washington, d.c. mental hospital for shooting president reagan and nearly killing former

white house press secretary james brady. he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. hinckley's attorney said the government is fear mongering and that his psychosis is in remission. they believe he should have home viments of 24 days at a time and eventually live outside the hospital full time. today, prosecutor read from a 1980s note in hinckley's diary. of his doctors, he said, "they will never know the true john hinckley." it's now up to a federal judge to determine the true john hinckley. and if he should eventually be free. pierre thomas, abc news, washington. and still ahead here, the made in america challenge. will you spend some of your christmas dollars to help create jobs across the country? wait until you see how people are answering the call. we'll do almost anything. out for drinks, eats. i have very well fitting dentures. i like to eat a lot of fruits. love them all. the seal i get with the super poligrip free keeps the seeds from getting up underneath. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles.

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captivated by looking at himself all over the white house. more than 100,000 guests are expected to view the white house decorations this month. and still ahead, made in america. the movement under way tonight. two words for christmas shoppers that could create tens of thousands of american jobs.sue ! i've been so looking forward to this. when my asthma symptoms returned, my doctor prescribed dulera to help prevent them. [ male announcer ] dulera is for patients 12 and older whose asthma is not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. dulera will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. dulera helps significantly improve lung function. this was shown over a 6 month clinical study. dulera contains formoterol, which increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. dulera is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled

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and finally, 24 hours after our report last night about how $64 of holiday money could change everything for american workers, there is a movement under way tonight and from dallas to minneapolis to pittsburgh, you said, "count us in." and again, it's not about buying all your gifts made in america, what about just one? here's our champion of made in america, anchor david muir. >> reporter: so you're in? >> we're in. >> reporter: you heard them here. the usrys of dallas are in. ready for the challenge this time. armed with those new numbers -- the average american spends $700 on christmas gifts. holiday gifts. remember, the economists who told us just $64 of that, less than 10%, on gifts made in america -- and we create 200,000 jobs right now. would you be willing to take your $64 and find something american?

>> absolutely. >> reporter: cue the andy williams. because the usrys are just the beginning. we're about to hop into our own red sleigh, dressed up by the family. the first stop? these are the -- >> this is the tocar family. >> reporter: this poor family. they didn't need us to make the case. >> the average american spends $700. >> reporter: and she told them, 64 of that on something american. you're in? >> we're in. >> reporter: next stop, the chances. >> i got some crazy numbers for you guys. >> reporter: and that question -- are you in? >> we're in! >> reporter: and it's not just dallas. minneapolis, too. remember nordic ware? those bunt pan s then. look at them now. red and green. workers telling "world news," they can't ask all of us to buy something made in america, unless they're in, too. >> we're in. >> reporter: and the baby boo r

boomers needing american swim suits. now, helen is a at the pool, driving to church. even the organ stopped. helen is serious. >> abc is here. >> reporter: wasn't long before we asked, are you in? >> we're in! >> reporter: and then there's pittsburgh, that toy maker sharyn found this year. the elves here not only making american, they're buying american, showing white house they have found already. >> i found a portable basketball system, made in america, and i'm in. >> majestic bells wind chimes are made in america, and i'm in. >> i buy my socks made in the usa. i'm in. >> reporter: so just 24 hours later, we were off and running. remember, just one item, made in america. >> dallas is in! >> dallas is in! >> reporter: and it won't always be easy. especially when it comes to helping santa. little ellis wants an american girl doll. the kids have written the lists to santa.

how much of that list is anything you can find in america? stumped, but not stopped. the usrys are in. they are up for the challenge. remember, just one thing. these are the e-mails, the tweeflts that came in just in the last 24 hours. and diane, look at the video wall this is our facebook, if you look at the pages, abcnews.com, the ideas coming in in real time. >> great ideas for your christmas tree out there. thank you, david. and we want you to know, we're going to read all of them. and as we do, we're going to add more lights on our christmas tree online for all the companies, products, waying you are getting involved. let's get that tree beaming. head to abcnews.com/worldnews to do it. share the gifts you found, you love, you think others might love, too. and we thank you for watching. we're always there at abcnews.com. "nightline," of course, as always, later. and we'll see you right back here again tomorrow night. good night. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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means more childhood asthma attacks. [ labored breathing ] there's technology that makes the air cleaner, but too many plants don't use it. we can't wait. epa must update power plant standards to protect our kids. [ baby coughing ] to protect our kids. wheel... of... fortune! ladies and gentlemen-- pa t sajak and vanna white! all right. oh, that's us. yes. thank you, jim thornton. thank you, everybody. you're too kind. thanks a lot. see you later. have a good show. hi.