Just a reminder for California moms and dads:
You may NOT put your child in therapeutic care without prior consent of BOTH parents.
Every post divorce judgment is different but for example, ours states that major decisions including (but not limited to) these bulleted below, require BOTH parents to AGREE:
- Participation in mental health counseling, therapy, or treatment;
- Non emergency medical or psychiatric treatment
So that the aforementioned can’t be circumvented, California law further states the minor may only enroll him/her self in therapeutic care without parental consent if two family code requirements are met. TWO. NOT ONE OR THE OTHER. BUT BOTH. In California, that Family Code is 6924.
It states that a minor who is 12 years of age or older may only consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, if both of the following requirements are satisfied:
(1) The minor, in the opinion of the attending professional person, is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or residential shelter services,
AND (not OR)
(2) The minor would present a danger of serious physical or mental harm to self or to others without the mental health treatment or counseling or residential shelter services, or is the alleged victim of incest or child abuse.
We’re all for therapy over here. But if kids need to seek professional help to cope with their parents’ HIGH CONFLICT divorce (and they should), the therapist should be a neutral party having never treated the parents together or individually, before.
Ethics and good parenting would prevent a therapist clearly aligned to one parent, from treating the minor child of a highly contentious divorce – most especially without the prior consent of BOTH parents.
Especially, Especially IF the parent selecting the therapist (without the other parent’s consent [so shady]) has been treated by said therapist for years… and who has alienated one of the other children in the family already!
I can’t underscore enough that if a therapist has been involved in the parental conflict, or has exclusively treated one parent, he or she must NEVER be counseling the minor children on how to adjust or process their parents’ choices, actions and behaviors, most especially without the prior consent of BOTH parents.
What makes me the expert? Fucking common sense, that’s what.
Moms and dads, if you really love your kids and want them to seek counseling to deal with the anxieties that accompany divorce, do them a favor and find a neutral party who will give priority and therapeutic allegiance to the minor patient, not you. Any, and I mean ANY argument for pushing a therapist you’ve been treated by without the other parent’s consent is SHADY, SELF SERVING, UNLOVING, ILLEGAL and MANIPULATIVE.
No word salad, bull shit here.
More to come,
Tanya S.
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