March is Self-Harm Month: The Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida Offers a Look at the Risks and Possible Solutions
Unfortunately, the natural progression laid out by the psychiatric community often leads to a prescription of psychotropic drugs with no resolution of the original problem. March is annually observed as Self-Harm Awareness Month but unless you are involved in mental...
The Hidden Dangers of the Baker Act: How Florida’s Mental Health Law is Failing Families
For thousands of Florida parents, the Baker Act has become a nightmare rather than a safeguard. Originally designed as an emergency intervention for those who pose an immediate danger to themselves or others, the law is now widely misused and abused, particularly...
Children’s Mental Health Week: What Parents Need to Know
This February during Children’s Mental Health Week, when industry attention and advertising is focused on children, parents should take a moment to examine what is actually happening in our schools to solicit potential new patients through mental health screening. So...
Mental Health Expert: Why Are We Still Electroshocking Children?
Today’s doctors are struggling to treat psychological problems and despite that, we are still using electroshock — even on children. In 2003, Dr. Loren Mosher and Professor David Cohen wrote a brief paper, “The Ethics of Electroconvulsive Therapy.”...
Human Rights Expert: Parents Deserve to Be Involved In Their Child’s Mental Health
If you were to read the news or do a simple Google search for mental health and children, you’d be bombarded with stories feigning a mental health crisis among children in the United States, demanding change. However, these stories are spun by the same people...
Human Rights Expert: How To Ensure School Mental Health Initiatives Don’t Violate Parental Rights
While some argue that school children are facing a mental health crisis and demand answers, perhaps the question we should be asking is: Why are schools involved in children’s mental health in the first place? As administrators, legislators and parents in the...
Human Rights Expert: Why We Need a Foster Child Bill of Rights
Legislation Can Make a Positive Difference For a range of reasons still being explored, the foster care system suffers from mishandling. This problem can be solved mainly by providing more rights to both children and their caregivers, including the parents with whom,...
Watchdog Group Demands Change to Laws Governing the Baker Acting of Children
The Baker Act has been a formidable survivor of reformation and according to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, changes to protect children are needed. Decades of abuse and loss of parental rights follow in the wake of the Baker Act. And despite demands for...
Tens of Thousands of Children Taken into Custody: The Baker Act Must Be Reformed
Baker Act abuse runs rampant and calls for reformation are resounding from press to parents. CCHR says it is time for change, one that is a long time coming. Fifty years of Baker Act abuse and maltreatment is more than enough for Florida citizens, practitioners, and...
Report Reveals a Record Number of Children Taken into Custody for Involuntary Psychiatric Examinations
Over 37,000 involuntary examinations, called a Baker Act, were initiated on children in Florida during 2018/2019. According to a report released this week by the Baker Act Reporting Center, there were over 210,000 involuntary psychiatric examinations initiated during...
CCHR Calls Attention to Drugging of Millions of Children on the Heels of ADHD Awareness Month
There are over 6.7 million US children being prescribed psychiatric drugs with more than 3.3 million of these children prescribed drugs for ADHD. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog dedicated the protection of children,...
Almost 410,000 Reached in a Campaign to Protect Children and Parental Rights
Viewed as a statewide problem, the number of children sent for involuntary psychiatric examinations, called a Baker Act, has been steadily climbing for almost two decades and with many parents only finding out their child has been taken into custody after the fact, it...
Evidence Points to Misuse of the Baker Act with Devastating Results for Children
As reported in multiple news stories, a recently released 85-page study found that “the Baker Act is increasingly being used on school children who make jokes, act out, exhibit normal manifestations of a known disability, or express ordinary sadness.” This same study...
Watchdog Campaign to Restore Parental Rights Reaches Over 370,000
Recognized across the state for helping parents whose children have been taken to a psychiatric facility for involuntary examination under Florida’s mental health law, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) launched a public information campaign earlier this...Contact CCHR Florida
109 N. Fort Harrison Ave.
Clearwater, Florida 33755
Tel: 1-800-782-2878
