Baker Act

Disability Rights Florida claims in its lawsuit that the data would help in monitoring psychiatric hospitals. The organization says it did not receive the information after making a public records request.

He ended up at a VA Medical Center in Gainesville seeking a voluntary stay for mental health treatment. Instead, he was involuntarily held under Florida’s Baker Act. Six months later, he killed himself.

Advocates say schools nationwide are misusing the practice in response to behaviors prompted by bullying or frustration over assignments. The hospital trips for psych evals, they say, often follow months of students' needs not being met.

After the school district agreed to pay $440,000 to resolve a lawsuit over its use of the Baker Act on students, some advocates want more protections for children.

The Baker Act is a state law that allows courts, law enforcement officers, and certain medical workers to order people who could be a harm to themselves or others to be taken to facilities for up to 72 hours.

Some advocates are also concerned that 988 could incidentally increase the Baker Acting of children with autism and developmental disabilities.

The law requires that parents of students receiving mental-health services be informed of “other behavioral health services available through the student's school or local community-based” providers.

One change allows parents of minors to skip a court review and voluntarily check their children into facilities as long as parent and child agree.

Republican Sen. Aaron Bean describes his proposal as more of a “tweak” to the system, but some say there’s a lot left undone.

The law ends the practice of confining students with disabilities to a room by themselves. Another bill signed Monday allows for higher payments to parents of infants born with a brain injury.

The lawsuit claims the district has deprived children of educational opportunities and inflicted unnecessary trauma by forcing them into mental health centers over unthreatening behavioral incidents.

Florida lawmakers have tried for years to curb youth Baker Acts. This year, with the passage of parental notification measures, they may have finally moved the needle.