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,...
Baker Acting of Children: Citing Abuse, Advocates Demanding Change to Law
Over 37,000 Baker Acts were initiated in Florida on children during 2018/2019 and advocates are demanding a change to the law to protect children from abuse. The Florida mental health law, commonly called the Baker Act, allows for individuals of all ages to be taken...
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...
Why Florida Needs to Revisit and Reform the Mental Health Law
There is the equivalent of one hundred Baker Acts initiated on children every day of the year. It is no wonder that parents are incensed. Where did it go wrong? Florida’s Mental Health Act of 1971 was designed and meant to protect an individual’s rights and due...
Mental Health Watchdog Applauds Call for Independent Enquiry into Electroconvulsive Therapy
According to a post published in Psychology Today by John Read, Ph.D., a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, “forty experts (including researchers, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals” have written the Minister for Health...
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...
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 there were a staggering 36,078 involuntary...
Electroshock: Therapy or Torture? Exhibit Held in Tallahassee Rotunda
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog that investigates and exposes abuses in the mental health industry, held a two-day exhibit on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock, in the Florida...
Mental Health Watchdog Continues to Fight for Children Who Remain Target of Baker Act Misuse
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) of Florida, a non-profit mental health watchdog that exposes human rights violations and is dedicated to the protection of children, applauds the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department for taking action following the...
Florida Bills Could Force Taxpayers To Fund Harmful Psychiatric Services for First Responders
Current Florida statutes require that there be clear and convincing evidence of mental or nervous injury to determine benefits under the state’s workers’ compensation law for Florida’s first responders. However, recent bills calling for revisions to the standard for...
CCHR Florida Presents Humanitarian Award to an Attorney Dedicated to Stopping Mental Health Abuses
A prominent Florida attorney was presented with the CCHR Humanitarian Award during a banquet held at the historic Fort Harrison in downtown Clearwater for his work to expose and prevent fraudulent involuntary psychiatric examinations known as Baker Acts. Hundreds of...
Mental Health Stigma Created by Psychiatry
When $20.4 million in federal funding for mental health services in Florida expired recently, those tied directly to this tax-payer funded care began a predictable and loud outcry. Stacey Cook-Hawk, CEO of Salus Care, a Mental Health and Addiction facility in...
New Florida Law Makes Giant Leap Forward To Secure Rights Of Children
CLEARWATER, FL. June 27, 2017 – Acting as a strong voice working to protect children from unnecessary involuntary psychiatric examinations, commonly referred to as a Baker Act, CCHR applauds Florida lawmakers for making great strides in the restoration of human rights...
Mental Health Legislation: Good-Hearted People Swayed by Vested Interests
What is at the heart of a new demand for mental health legislation in Florida? Obviously, Floridians love to help. Most all of us would stop and assist a lost child, happily provide food to hungry veterans or provide holiday gifts to families in need. Seemingly it is...Contact CCHR Florida
109 N. Fort Harrison Ave.
Clearwater, Florida 33755
Tel: 1-800-782-2878
