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California Bill Proposes Allowing Mental Health Professionals to Remove Children Without Parental Consent – American Faith

A California bill proposed by Assembly Member Wendy Carrillo is causing controversy, with some critics calling it a form of “state-sanctioned kidnapping,” The Post Millennial (PM) reports.

The proposed legislation, known as AB 665, would allow mental health professionals to remove children as young as 12 from their parents and place them in residential shelter facilities without the parents’ knowledge or consent.

Currently, children over the age of 12 are allowed to consent to mental health treatment or counseling, but cannot be placed in a shelter facility without being deemed a risk to themselves or others, or in cases where there are allegations of incest or child abuse.

An abstract of the bill reads: “Existing law, for some purposes, authorizes a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, if the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or residential shelter services, as specified, and either the minor would present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or to others or if the minor is the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.”

“For other purposes, existing law authorizes a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to mental health treatment or counseling services if the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or counseling services,” it goes on to say.

AB 665 seeks to remove these restrictions, which some experts argue will put vulnerable children at risk.

“This bill would align the existing laws by removing the additional requirement that, in order to consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, the minor must present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to themselves or to others, or be the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.”

On March 28, as the Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing on AB 665.

Our Duty, an international group of parents with gender-questioning children, strongly opposes the bill, believing it would effectively legalize “state-sanctioned kidnapping.”

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