The Baker Act

Over 260,000 Reached in Campaign to Educate Parents on Their Rights
Earlier this year the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) launched a social media campaign designed to provide summaries of some of the legal concepts, rights, and facts relating to...

Florida’s Emergency Psychiatric Hold is a Human Rights Violation
Once again Florida made headlines when Reason, the nation's leading libertarian magazine, published an investigative report on police in schools. While the story was mostly focused on School Resource Officers it also...

Mental Health Watchdog Reaches More Than 180,000 Through Parental Rights Campaign
As part of a campaign to educate parents on their rights, the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a watchdog organization that exposes abuse in the mental health industry, launched a...

Baker Act Reform is Needed in Order to Protect Parental Rights
The number of children being taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination, called a Baker Act, has been steadily climbing across Florida for the past 17 years. And in February of this year, the trauma...

Mental Health Watchdog Reaches Over 100,000 in Campaign to Protect Parental Rights
Last month the Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida (CCHR), launched a revised website and a campaign designed to help parents understand some of their rights. While parental rights have historically been...

Mental Health Watchdog Launches Website to Educate Parents on Their Rights
Earlier this month the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an international mental health watchdog organization, launched a newly revised website designed to help parents understand some...

What are Parental Rights?
Even before the current pandemic scare, Florida parents have worried about protecting their children, particularly at school. The fact that children were being regularly taken from school without prior parental notice...

Six-year-old Allegedly Forcibly Drugged in Psychiatric Facility: CCHR Demanding Answers
With all the media coverage and outrage over six-year-old Nadia Falk’s forced stay and alleged drugging in a Florida psychiatric facility this February, a deeper question is raised. What is the justification for...

Baker Act Reform Continues to Leave Parents Out of the Solution
The mental health law in Florida, commonly called the Baker Act, allows for anyone, no matter their age, to be taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination. This includes children and during 2017-2018...

Mental Health Watchdog Hosts Legal Symposium Highlighting Baker Act Abuse Prevention
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) hosted its fifth conference on the Baker Act which has been notoriously featured in the headlines for the past few months due to very young children...

CCHR Calls Involuntary Psychiatric Examination of Children in Florida a Human Rights Abuse
Over the past two weeks there has been a viral reporting of the tragic involuntary psychiatric examination of a 6-year-old girl in Jacksonville, Florida. Called a Baker Act, involuntary psychiatric examination is part...

Watchdog Calling for an Investigation into the Baker Acting of Children in Florida
In 2018 an astounding 36,078 involuntary psychiatric examinations were initiated on children in Florida, an almost 19% increase over the past four years. [1] Called a Baker Act, an involuntary examination of a minor...

CCHR Warns: Baker Acting the Elderly Can be Fatal Due to ‘Transfer Trauma’
Transfer trauma, also known as relocation stress syndrome, has been studied since the 1960s and according to controlled studies the mortality rate for elderly that are transferred is 2-4 times higher than those that...

CCHR Kicks Off 2020 Campaign with an Open House to Raise Awareness on Abuse of Mental Health Laws
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit watchdog organization that exposes and eradicates abuses in the mental health industry, will be hosting a series of Open House events...

CCHR Humanitarian Award Presented to Attorney Dedicated to Restoring Human Rights
Attended by hundreds of guests, the 4th Annual Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) Humanitarian Awards Banquet once again honored the many dedicated volunteers and supporters of CCHR for their work help restore...