Young children should not be arrested in school and sent to psychiatric hospitals

Twenty years ago, when a 7-year-old had a temper tantrum in a public school, the school would suspend the child. The police would not be called, and it would be unthinkable to subject the child to an involuntary mental examination in a psychiatric ward of a hospital.

As time went on, and patience wore down, young children with emotional or behavioral disabilities were arrested and placed in juvenile detention facilities. Now, it is increasingly common for a police officer to remove children having tantrums from school and take them to a psychiatric hospital for examination and treatment — without their parents’ consent. Since 2006, there has been a decrease in juvenile arrests, and a dramatic increase in involuntary examinations and commitments under the Florida Mental Health Act, otherwise called the Baker Act. From 2000 to 2016, there has been an 87 percent increase in the number of children subjected to a Baker Act proceeding, and a 76 percent increase in such proceedings against children ages 5-10.

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