student mental health

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.

Students returning to school have lost out on weeks of instruction, putting them behind on the year’s planned curriculum. But more serious, say some experts, are long-term effects on a student’s physical and emotional health.

One Tampa Bay leader said it may be difficult to figure out how to discuss this tragedy with your child — but it's important to start the conversation.

Kids were already facing a mental health crisis before the pandemic. Closing schools for a year only made it worse, says Rachel Kusher of the Florida School Counselor Association. And reopening hasn’t fixed all the harm.

If passed, the bill would require the parents or legal guardians of students institutionalized under the Baker Act to be notified prior to the student’s transportation to a receiving facility.

A cluster of suicides in Las Vegas, plus a troubling rise in youth suicide attempts observed in ERs nationwide, is raising fears that the pandemic is fueling a children's mental health crisis.

When it comes to children, Florida's law regarding involuntary commitments for psychiatric treatment is applied inconsistently.

To keep children from being committed under the Baker Act, some schools are addressing early childhood trauma and changing their approach to student discipline.

Data shows children who are committed under the Baker Act often are referred by school officials. School shootings and other incidents have placed more pressure on officials to intervene.

Each year, about 36,000 children in Florida are involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluations under the state's Baker Act and disabled kids are becoming increasingly ensnared.

The number of children who are taken for involuntary psychiatric evaluations in Florida increases every year. This is the first story in a five-part series about how the state's Baker Act affects children.

In Florida, approximately 36,000 kids are Baker Acted per year.