Tuesday, April 19, 2011

6 year old Florida child taken from her parents by police and forcibly held in psych ward.





Photo 1: another child being arrested from school in Texas: Flickr
Photo 2: actual child who was handcuffed by police, taken from her parents, and sent to a psych ward

I just don’t understand what is happening to children in the US, and particularly Florida.

Recently in Keystone Heights, Florida, a 6 year old girl’s parents had taken her to the doctor to be evaluated for mood swings in connection with her ADHD medicine. Without explanation the little girl was given a long medical questionnaire to fill out. During the evaluation she bubbled in the answer “yes” to the question “have you ever thought of killing yourself”. Did a 6 year old child really understand the full ramifications of the question she was bubbling in the answer to?

Suddenly, the mental health professionals told her parents they were invoking the Baker Act. The police were called, the child was handcuffed and taken away from her parents and held in a psychiatric ward overnight. Her parents were not permitted to see her.

This is not an isolated incident in Florida. Last year more than 11,000 Florida children were Baker Acted from school. Sometimes these children are given strong psychotropic drugs, all without parental consent.

The Baker Act is the name given for the Florida Mental Health Act which is a Florida statute giving schools and medical professionals the right to involuntarily commit someone (or a child) to a mental health facility for up to 72 hours for observation if it is thought they are a threat to themselves or to others.

A couple years ago a 7 year old boy had a tantrum in class, and
he was taken away by police and Baker Acted into a psych ward overnight.

A few years ago I met a family who were home schooling their 7 year old son. He had been bullied at school and the school was ignoring it. When he broke down in tears one day the school principal decided he was a threat to himself and decided to Baker Act him. He was handcuffed and taken in a police patrol car to a psychiatric ward overnight for evaluation. His parents were also refused permission to contact him. As soon as custody of the child was returned to the parents, they withdrew him from school and home schooled him. This child has nightmares about his time in the psychiatric hospital.

I think the Baker Act is being used too often. A USF Report shows fewer children are Baker Acted during the summer months when school is not in session. It appears schools are resorting to using the Baker Act to avoid dealing with students who have problems by shipping the student off somewhere else. Kind of the same way they don't have a bullying problem by ignoring it or blaming the victim.

When you take your child to the doctor, or send them off to school in the morning, you don't expect to be stripped of your parental rights by the end of the day.

11 comments:

  1. Hello, I found this blog about a week ago and have been reading it with great interest since then. About this post, taking the children away without parental consent is bad enough but I must ask, why the handcuffs.
    I should probably point out that i'm from Sweden to explain my ignorance.

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  2. Hi Tomas, and welcome. Thank you for your kind comments.

    Why the handcuffs? I wish I knew. It just seems to be the modus operandi when children are removed from school by the police (and now the doctor) in Florida. It doesn't make any sense to anyone.

    I keep telling myself I'm not going to write about any more horror stories regarding Florida schools, but there are so many stories that need to be shared.

    When my children were in Florida schools I felt the schools were continually undermining my authority as a parent.

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    1. Florida is the most fucked up state ever. I lived there and so glad I moved out.

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    2. I agree Barb. I haven't lived in any other States in the US, so I don't know how Florida compares to others, but I'm told it's pretty messed up. We're so glad we moved out too. The education system in Ontario is much better than Florida - but that's not hard to do considering Florida is one of the worst states educationally in the US.

      Google: Failure Factories for a series the St. Pete Times wrote on 5 elementary schools in Pinellas county. Pinellas is quietly re-segregating it's schools.

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  3. what a low world we live in- when the do gooders can lock up little children like that- and not just ridicule them- or power over them- and that be enough for their daily satisfaction- now they even get to have them locked up. what a sick world we got.

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    1. It just doesn't make any sense. This article was written in 2011, so I don't know what it's like in Florida today. I'm not too hopeful it's improved, though, since the schools rely too much on School Resource Officers.

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  4. How are things now in 2016? Have they improved?

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    1. Hi MAB. I don't know how much things have improved in the States, (and especially Florida) but our family has been living in Canada for nearly 6 years now, and we are very happy here.

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  5. this agenda is called NEW WORLD ORDER!!!

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    Replies
    1. I hope not, but it looks bad when Florida can treat it's children this way.

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  6. Hi everyone, I just posted an update today on our move to Canada nearly 6 years ago if anyone would like to read it.

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