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CCHR: Parental Rights, the Baker Act and What Professionals Need to Know

The headquarters for CCHR Florida are located in downtown Clearwater.

The headquarters for CCHR Florida are located in downtown Clearwater.

This seminar is designed to provide a basic understanding of the legislation passed over the past two years to protect children and parental rights.

Those individuals authorized to Baker Act a child need to know and understand the law and the rights accorded to parents, children and citizens being held under a Baker Act”
— Diane Stein, President CCHR Florida

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, November 30, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On Wednesday, December 7th from 5:30pm – 6:30pm, the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) will be hosting a complimentary seminar on the Baker Act. The event will be held at the CCHR Center located at 109 N Fort Harrison Avenue in downtown Clearwater.

During 2019/2020 almost 36,000 involuntary psychiatric examinations, called a Baker Act, involving children were initiated and many started in a school setting. CCHR has long charged these seizures of children circumvented the rights of parents. [1]

Fortunately, during the past two legislative sessions, the efforts of concerned citizens, CCHR and other mental health activists, helped to pass bills, including the School Safety Bill and the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which now offer new layers of protection - giving back to parents their right to direct the mental health of their children.

In order to ensure that professionals understand these changes and how they relate to the rights of parents and the protection of children, CCHR is sponsoring the seminar with attorney Carmen Miller, Esq. Ms. Miller is an expert on the Baker Act and served for over 8 years as an Assistant Public Defender for the 13th Judicial District in Hillsborough County.

“Those individuals authorized to Baker Act a child need to know and understand the law and the rights accorded to parents, children and citizens being held under a Baker Act,” states Diane Stein the president for CCHR in Florida.

The learning objectives for the webinar include:

1. Understanding the legal context and intentions of the Baker Act.

2. Understanding the laws regarding involuntary examinations and how they relate to parental rights.

3. Identifying the basic human rights impacted by the Baker Act.

Those attending will be able to learn more about Florida’s Parents' Bill of Rights and what they can do to protect these rights. On July 1, 2021, the Parents’ Bill of Rights became law and in order to help parents understand these rights, CCHR created a series of 15-30 second videos to help explain some of these rights as well as a simple booklet that can be downloaded on their website.

This new section of Florida law clearly states that “the state, any of its political subdivisions, any other governmental entity, or any other institution may not infringe on the fundamental rights of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of his or her minor child without demonstrating that such action is reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest and that such action is narrowly tailored and is not otherwise served by a less restrictive means.”

The seminar is open to anyone wishing to attend but it is specifically designed for Mental Health Counselors, Clinical Social Workers, Marriage Family Therapists, Master Social Workers and Law Enforcement. Anyone interested in attending the event should call 800-782-2878.

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. The Florida chapter of CCHR is an award-winning nonprofit in the area of mental health human rights and government relations. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: “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,’” he wrote in March 1969.

Sources:
[1] Baker Act Report https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-act/documents/usf_fy2019_2020_baker_act_annual_report.pdf

Diane Stein
Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida
+1 727-422-8820
email us here
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As a parent in Florida, you have the right to help your minor child in a time of crisis before the initiation of a Baker Act.

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