Mar 18, 2019 3 min read

When a teen’s parents want to take them for mental health services, some are finding that providers give the child the option to decline treatment.

That’s not the intent of a 2004 law, said state Reps. Pam Snyder, Jason Ortitay and Marcia Hahn.

Act 147 of 2004 allows 14- to 18-year old children the ability to seek mental health treatment without the consent of their parents or guardians, Snyder said. It was meant to expand the availability of mental health services and allow those between those ages to look for help – whether parents felt they needed it. However, Snyder said, many providers are using the law to give minors the right to refuse treatment, even when their parents recognize a need for it and consent to it.

“These children need guidance and support in making such a decision, especially if they’re already struggling with a mental health concern,” said Snyder, D-Jefferson Township.

The bipartisan legislation introduced by Snyder, Ortitay, R-Cecil, and Hahn, R-Northampton, would repeal sections of the act that are unclear and have led to uncertainty or misunderstanding, replacing them with clearer language that’s easier for doctors and parents to understand.

“(T)he circumstances continue to pile up where families fear for their safety and for the safety of their loved ones. The adolescent brain is not fully developed until after age 24, and yet these adult decisions are being left in the hands of ill-equipped minors who may not be thinking clearly due to their mental illness,” according to a memorandum recently introduced by Snyder, Ortitay and Hahn.

Snyder said she’s been fighting for clarity on the law since she recognized the problem during her first term in office. Attempts to fix the problem have twice been stymied, and the memo from the three legislators said they were hopeful that a bulletin issued last year by the state Department of Human Services would offer clarity that the 2004 law was never meant to shift the option for treatment into the hands of a teenager.

However, they said, agencies failed to widely disseminate the DHS clarification, leading to continued problems.

Ortitay got involved when the issue was brought to him in a few years ago by a constituent whose teenage daughter was able to refuse the mental health treatment her mother sought for her. The daughter later committed suicide.

“Our youth are dying. It is time we give parents the ability to get their children into treatment for the issues they are facing. It simply cannot wait any longer,” Ortitay said previously.

Snyder and Ortitay said the intent of the 2004 law was to increase the availability of mental health services — not to potentially cut parents seeking help on behalf of their children out of the equation.

“Parents and providers want to do what’s right for a child, and our efforts will ensure they can do so without ambiguity,” said Snyder.