Awarded for outstanding work, CCHR developed a successful strategy to organize a campaign resulting in the passing of legislation to protect parental rights.

Many apply but only few are chosen. Each year PRNEWS Nonprofit Awards spotlight organizations challenging assumptions, pushing boundaries and embracing the seemingly impossible to create winning campaigns used to help their communities. Among the winners of this prestigious award in the PR communications community from around the world, CCHR Florida was awarded one of 5 finalists and received Honorable Mention in PRNEWS’ Nonprofit Awards in the category of Social Responsibility Campaign/Initiatives. They were awarded alongside other caring organizations such as Children’s Health, Dini von Mueffling Communications, Farmer’s Footprint, Macon-Bibb County, The Trevor Project and more. [1]

CCHR Florida otherwise known as the Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an international nonprofit mental health watchdog with chapters around the world. CCHR Florida received the award after they were able to use their media, social media and grassroots campaigns to reach tens of millions culminating in the passing of laws to protect the rights of parents across the state of Florida.

CCHR has long fought to restore basic inalienable human rights to the field of mental health, including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.

Comprised of a vast network volunteers, CCHR Florida’s chapter worked to protect the rights of parents from having their children institutionalized without receiving parental consent. Involuntary psychiatric examination, called a Baker Act in Florida, has been a long controversial law in the state of Florida responsible for over 200,000 involuntary psychiatric examinations in 2018/2019 including over 37,000 examinations of children with over 4,000 of these children under the age of 10. [2]

PRNEWS’ Nonprofit Awards honor the most talented communicators that work hard to make the world a better place via nonprofit initiatives.

Diane Stein, the President for the Florida chapter of CCHR, worked closely with her team to develop a PR and communications strategy to restore parental rights and protect children from unjust Baker Acting through passing of new legislation including the Parents’ Bill of Rights. CCHR partnered with strong, established organizations with similar goals to create a grass roots movement of families that, along with media stories exposing the abuse, would place enough pressure on Florida lawmakers that they would make the issue a priority for the 2021 legislative session and pass laws that would restore parental rights.

CCHR FL first began exposing this situation and raising awareness on the need for change through events, social media, press releases and media stories. Next CCHR FL created a simple booklet – Parental Rights in Florida: A Guide for Parents – outlining parental rights along with webpages designed to educate families, policy makers and other groups on the situation and the solution. Once again, using press releases and social media, CCHR FL continued to raise awareness of this issue generating reach from other groups to join forces to create positive change.

“We were able to bring people together through a marketing and social media campaign to have Florida families contact the members of the Florida Legislature. The success of this campaign showcased that a small group of well-intentioned parents can effect meaningful change” said Diane Stein.

In total, their commutations campaign reached tens of millions in the state of Florida and resulted in positive legislation that carried out their goal of protecting families undergoing crisis from abuse in the mental health field.

Copies of the Parental Rights in Florida: A Guide for Parents can be acquired for free on CCHR FL website.

Sources:
[1] PRNEWS Nonprofit Awards 2022 https://www.prnewsonline.com/go/nonprofit-awards-2021/#winners
[2] Baker Act Reporting Center https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-act/