Why are children being punished for seeking help in their darkest moments?

Adolescents and their families must feel safe seeking mental health treatment in local Emergency Departments. When Involuntary Commitment Orders (IVCs) are used as a default policy, instead of a last resort option, adolescents and families suffer lasting harm.

IVCs are a legal process in which a layperson or medical professional asks a judge to order mental health or substance use treatment for an individual against their will. They are intended to be used when a person is an immediate “danger to themselves or others.” It results in the temporary loss of an individual’s right to make their own health decisions and forces people to have treatment. Again: IVCs are intended to be used only when the patient and/or guardian has refused the recommended treatment.

When IVCs are a hospital’s default policy, the hospital inevitably misleads the court and violates the patient’s right to due process, and the entire family suffers serious harm:

-          Guardians who in good faith seek treatment for their minor child learn after the fact that their minor child has been involuntarily committed. At that point, there is no recourse because the parent/guardian's rights to direct the minor’s care have been compromised.

-          Minors as young as 3 years old are ripped away from their families and transported by law enforcement officers to treatment facilities that can be hours away.

-          Both parents and child suffer additional emotional trauma during what is already the most difficult time in their lives.

-          Visitation is extremely limited – if it is available at all – during a time when a minor child with present mental health issues most needs safety and stability.

-          Children suffer treatment setbacks, nightmares, and PTSD as a result of the ordeal they endure.

The issues:

Families are re-traumatized at the darkest times in their lives, when they sought help from trusted health professionals.

Constitutional rights, due process, and civil liberties are violated when these orders are requested and granted when families are actively seeking treatment.

Parents' rights are stripped when they are asking for treatment for their child. 

Hospital staff are permitted to seek an Affidavit for Involuntary Commitment of a minor without asking the parent/guardian if they intend to refuse treatment.

Parents/guardians are given no option to seek alternative treatment options for their minor child.

Magistrates have the authority to grant these orders without any input from the parent/guardian.

Default transportation to another facility is in a Sheriff’s vehicle – often in handcuffs cuffs.

#MentalHealthIsNotInvoluntary #stopthestigma