WHEN STATE REP. DAVID SILVERS heard about one child’s horrific experience as she was taken into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. A news story about the circumstances haunted him.
As Silvers, D-West Palm Beach, began to research and learn more about the Baker Act and its impact on children, he knew he had to do something. More than 35,000 children were taken in under the Baker Act in 2017 and of 2018.
Silvers hopes House Bill 945 — which was signed into law and went into effect July 1 — will lower that number.
Silvers sponsored the House bill, which in part asks schools to take initial steps to defuse certain types of situations instead of calling police. It also calls for mobile response units and crisis stabilization services to be utilized before the Baker Act is instituted.
“It is a very robust piece of Legislature,” Silvers says. “It brings in some accountability.”
Silvers says children should not be taken in under the Baker Act without more assessment and thought.
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