CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog established by the Church of Scientology to expose human rights violations, joined in the outcry against Baker Acting a 7-year-old Miami boy for disciplinary problems. The Chief of the Miami-Dade Schools’ Police Department subsequently took action and helped to release the boy who had been handcuffed and taken from the school in a police car to a psychiatric facility on January 25th.
According to CCHR, the campaign to curtail the abuse of the Baker Act against children is gaining more attention from citizens and officials. In September of 2017, Sheriff Jerry L. Demings of Orange County issued a General Order that instructs his deputies to make reasonable efforts to notify a child’s parents before initiating a Baker Act.
“While we applaud Chief Moffett and Sheriff Demings for their actions to protect Florida’s children, the law must be amended to ensure that parents are informed that their children are being sent to a facility before it happens,” said Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida. “Senate Bill 270, ‘Involuntary Examination and Involuntary Admission of Minors’, is in Tallahassee right now to make this a reality.”
Stein said that tens of thousands of Floridians, including children, are being victimized through inappropriate use of the Baker Act and are being sent to psychiatric facilities despite not meeting the criteria for involuntary examination. In fact, according to the 2017 Annual Report of Baker Act Data, 32,475 minors were sent for examination during the fiscal year 2015 to 2016, many for simple disciplinary problems.
Currently parents do not have to be notified that their children are being transported to a psychiatric facility. Once at a psychiatric facility the child can be held for up to 72 hours and administered psychiatric medications that can cause depression, suicidal ideation, heart problems, and violence.
To sign a petition to pass SB 270, CCHR Florida is asking parents to log on to https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protect-children-from-baker-act. For more information visit www.cchrflorida.org.
About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’”
- https://www.local10.com/news/local/miami/video-shows-7-year-old-boy-being-led-away-from-school-in-handcuffs
- http://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-act/documents/annual_report.pdf
- http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article197958454.html
- http://www.cchrflorida.org/question-and-answers-about-the-florida-involuntary-commitment-law-the-baker-act/
- http://www.cchr.org/quick-facts/psychiatric-drugs-side-effects.html
Media Contact:
Diane Stein
President, CCHR Florida
727-442-8820
diane@cchrflorida.org
www.cchrflorida.org