School District of Palm Beach County responds to misuse of the Baker Act report

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — There’s a new push in educating school counselors in our area about the Florida Mental Health Act, or what’s known as the Baker Act.

It allows children as young as five years old to be hauled away to hospitals for mental health evaluations without a parents involvement, according to Baker Act lawyer Mark Astor.

In its recent study released last month, it shows almost 37,000 Florida children are involuntarily committed each year, and more than 1,200 of those cases in Palm Beach County over a four year period.

“We get children who are being handcuffed, hands behind their backs, placed in the back of a police car. It’s almost like they’re taking the perp the walk,” said Boca Raton-based attorney Mark Astor.

Astor calls this experience traumatizing for kids.

He says sometimes the schools do it without parental consent, or the facility holds a child over 72 hours without the required court order to do so.

“They don’t know what the Baker Act is. They don’t even know where their child is, and they don’t know who to turn to. They do know their child is not coming home that night, and that’s very frightening for parents,” Astor said.

This week, the school district highlighted some of its recent efforts to provide more training for staffers and police in response to the recent study.

“It looks like they’re trying to make an effort to educate the professionals that are making these Baker Act decisions on what the Baker Act is, when to use it, when it's appropriate and what the criteria are,” Astor said.

Last month, CBS12 News spoke with a mother whose son with autism was "Baker Acted." While it’s not a mental illness, researchers found children with autism are often subjected to the process. That also includes minority students.

“We’re definitely having a problem with overuse and abuse to the Baker Act. Number two, there are a lot of children out there who need help. They need someone to turn to,” Astor said. “I think the school board has acknowledged we have a problem. We need to make more resources available for children.”

The school district tells CBS12 News they are currently in the process of creating a policy plan of the best practices surrounding the Baker Act, as they say, is something they rely on as a last resort.