>>>How The Loss Of U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Led To A Mental Health Crisis
February 3, 2020>>>Video shows hospital security slamming down a teenager outside a hospital
February 16, 2020According to a sheriff’s report, a social worker who responded to Nadia’s tantrum at Love Grove Elementary School stated the girl was a “threat to herself and others,” “destroying school property” and “attacking staff.”
She was removed from school and committed to a behavioral health center for a psychiatric evaluation under the Baker Act, which allows authorities to force such an evaluation on anyone considered to be a danger to themselves or others.
Nadia’s mother, Martina Falk, said her daughter has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a mood disorder.
“I specifically placed my daughter at this school back in August 2019 because I was told they had specifically trained staff to handle special needs children,” she said.
Surrounded by her legal team, Martina said the nearly two-day mandatory stay at the mental health center, away from her mother, did more harm than good.
“She’s traumatized. She is not herself anymore. I don’t know what the long-term effects are,” she told CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez.
Duval County Public Schools told CBS News the decision to admit a student under the Baker Act is made by a third-party licensed mental health care professional and said, “We’ve reviewed the school’s handling of this situation and find it to be compliant both with law and the best interest of this student and all other students at the school.”
But critics ask if the Baker Act is being overused, especially when it comes to school kids.
In 2018 in Cocoa, Florida, a 12-year-old boy with autism was taken to a facility in a police cruiser. It was the boy’s first day in middle school and during a meltdown, he scratched himself and then made a suicidal reference.
