Abstract
Certain issues relating to children's mental health services were recently addressed in Florida, including: the legal adversarial relationship between parent and child; guardian ad litem; child participation in legal admissions processes; child consent to outpatient counseling; appropriate placements; expert professional opinion; and costs. Available research suggests that (1) children 15 years of age and older should be as presumably capable of consenting to mental health treatment as adults; (2) due process requirements for psychiatric hospitalization of children do not necessarily harm the family system; and (3) inpatient treatment of children and adolescents is effective and preferred for a number of the more severe disorders, but outpatient treatment is indicated for the less severe and more circumscribed disorders. The statutory schemes of the Mental Health Law Project and the Virginia Task Force are both preferable to Florida's recommended reform.
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