This is a serious sign of the mental health crisis for children in Florida.
Although the total number of Baker Act exams administered to adults in Florida is decreasing, more than ever more involuntary mental health exams will be administered to children during the 2020-2021 fiscal year. was carried out.
The figures were released as part of the latest Annual report by the Baker Law Reporting Center at the University of South Florida.
According to the report, between 2020 and 2021, more than 38,000 involuntary psychiatric examinations were performed on children, a 77% increase over the past decade. This figure equates to an average of just over 100 children a day in Florida who were involuntarily given mental health tests during her year.
“I’m not surprised at all. In fact, I was a little concerned and disappointed that this false narrative happened during the pandemic that our children are doing well,” the treatment center said.
Lott knows the state’s troubling history of bakery kids.she served as a state official The Baker Act Task Force is a group created by the legislature in 2017 to study why so many children in Florida are being involuntarily tested under the state’s Baker Act. increase. Later that year, the group released a series of recommendations on how to bring these numbers down.
“The only mission was to find a way to reduce the number of these Baker Acts, especially among children, but the numbers are still rising. Does this mean the state has failed?” ?
“Good question. I don’t know if the states failed. I think the dynamics shifted to us,” Lott said.
Lott mentions a pandemic. One year ago, during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Baker Law Reporting Center at the University of South Florida recorded a decline in the number of children’s Baker Act exams for the first time since the state began tracking numbers more than a decade ago.
But experts pointed to the decline as an anomaly in a year dominated by coronavirus-related school closures, school closures and distance learning.
Lott believes these latest statistics reflect the aftermath of the pandemic for children. , were Caucasian girls between the ages of 11 and 14.
“Our children are suffering. Their actions show us using terms like suicide and death by suicide. It made it worse,” Lott explained.
Still, Lot also believes that the Baker Act is also abused by children, especially among schools and law enforcement agencies, who initiate the majority of the Baker Act among children and adults.
While the state has adopted several measures to reduce unnecessary Baker Acts, it does not require school districts to report Baker Acts they initiate on their children each year, or before a child applies the Baker Act on campus. Advocates do not require most children to be Baker Acted under state law.
“In Florida, we use the Baker Act as a last resort at the first sign of trouble,” said Sam Boyd, senior attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
last year, The nonprofit published this scathing report It also sued the Palm Beach County school district, accusing it of illegally using the Baker Act, including on students as young as five.
The school district has since adjusted some of its Baker Act policies toward students, and the lawsuit remains pending. , despite efforts by millions of states to treat children before the crisis, states still believe they have no control over how they use the Baker Act against juveniles.
“It’s the worst way to deal with a child with an emergency mental illness,” he said. You really have to think about all the off-ramps you can do,” Boyd said.
Lot agrees.
“I would argue that it’s traumatic and most of the time it’s unnecessary,” she said.
Is It Time for Florida to Repeal the Baker Act?
“That’s a great question,” said Lott. “I would like to say that the 5-year plan and the 10-year plan should actually come very close to abolishing the Baker Act. We need to invest in our children’s mental health and fund it differently.”
this year Mental Health America ranked Florida 49th in the country for access to mental health care.
Earlier this year, the state legislature approved it, and the governor of Florida signed into law a bill allocating more than $100 million in recurring annual funds for mental health, a historic move in Florida.
WPTV looked at the total number of people Baker acted in each county and what percentage of those incidents involved people under the age of 18.
of palm beach county, Children were involved in 19.6% of Baker Act cases. was 22.9% Martin County 25.1% Saint Lucie County 25.9% Indian River County.
however, Okeechobee Countythe number of all bakery laws involving minors jumped to nearly 39.6%, double the state average.
