© natalialeb/stock.adobe.com Child reading a textbook in school
While some argue that school children are facing a mental health crisis and demand answers, perhaps the question we should be asking is: Why are schools involved in children’s mental health in the first place?
As administrators, legislators and parents in the United States try to sort out how to help children, schools and parents find themselves in a power struggle. With schools sidestepping parents in mental health treatment and curriculum, creating the best, most supportive community possible without violating parental rights is critical.
Assistance Gone Wrong
Across the country, police and other authorities have been forcibly restraining elementary-aged kids and even making arrests, handcuffs and all. Some of those children are sent to mental health facilities and sedated before their parents can consent. This was the case for 6-year-old Nadia King in 2020, when her school involved police under the Baker Act. This controversial Florida law allows involuntary mental health examination and detention of people of all ages, including children. In the 2020-2021 school year alone, the law resulted in 5,077 incidents of students being involuntarily committed.
Even if children weren’t being improperly removed from schools, some academic facilities are covertly enrolling children in mental health programs. Parents are left in the dark about what those programs teach, and concerns arise when they find mental health topics included.
In Collier County, Florida, a fourth-grade math textbook from McGraw Hill ignited a firestorm for asking non-math-related questions such as, “What are some ways you can connect with your classmates?” More broadly, in a pushback against such inclusions, mainly related to social and emotional learning (SEL) and critical race theory, the state rejected 41 percent of new math textbooks.
Other tools, like apps to track kids’ feelings, are similarly scrutinized for potential privacy violations. Parents and advocacy groups are also concerned that children’s attempts to be open about mental health might backfire. A Scientific American article by two psychiatrists reported that studies on the last 40 years of suicide risk research indicate the mental health industry is not only “not very good” at predicting suicide risk but that the process itself might increase the likelihood of suicide.
A Parent’s Right to Know
Teachers, administrators, and other school personnel spend significant amounts of time with children throughout the day, so they are well-positioned to notice symptoms of mental distress or abuse. This has led to a significant uptick in school-based mental health centers.
Schools must take care not to adopt extremist ideology like that of Chester Pierce, a psychiatrist who in 1973 said in an address to the Childhood International Education Seminar:
“Every child in America entering school at the age of five is insane because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It’s up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well – by creating the international child of the future.”
Although school officials might genuinely care about protecting children, it is parents who are responsible for their children and are most familiar with their behaviors and circumstances. Of course, schools must take care to report cases where parents or guardians might pose a risk to children, but ultimately, parents have the right to direct the mental health of their children, not schools.
Lawmakers can be powerful advocates for change in this arena. In Florida, legislators passed a Parents’ Bill of Rights in 2021 to protect parental rights regarding mental health care for their children. It supplemented the bill in 2022 with House Bill (HB) 1557, Parental Rights in Education.
In April 2022, the Arizona Senate passed a bill to amend the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights. The proposed amendments will allow parents access to their children’s academic records, including counseling and psychological records. Additionally, these amendments will enable parents to sue a state government entity or official that interferes with or usurps their fundamental rights to “direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of their children.” Bills like these are essential to protect parents’ rights regarding their children.
Parental Involvement Is Key
Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minors. The U.S. Congress has decreed that based upon the Constitutional and human rights of all citizens, important information relating to a minor child should not be withheld from his or her parent, either inadvertently or purposefully. This includes information relating to the minor child’s health, mental health, and education. Although state laws across the country vary, some recognize the fundamental nature of parental rights, as parents typically have the right to make medical and mental health decisions for their children. But some don’t.
With this understanding, parents should take the opportunity to get involved. The pathways that are perhaps the simplest and most effective are exercise and nutrition.
Christopher Lowry, associate professor of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a team of specialists have been examining ways to combat depression in young people. Their work adds to the growing body of evidence that diet and exercise are among the main factors that influence mental health.
Lowry acknowledges that certain elements can challenge a parent’s ability to provide physical activity and nutritious foods (e.g., being in a geographical food desert). Even so, with physical education requirements dropping in schools from 41 percent in 1991 to 3.7 percent in 2015, parents are often the only source of guidance children have when it comes to taking care of their bodies in ways that support mental health.
Life can be trying, and everyone faces adversity. Truly protecting children requires a collaborative approach, enabling parents to exercise their right to know what schools are doing in order to make informed decisions about their kids.
Whether asking your school for information, submitting proposals to lawmakers, or helping other parents understand their rights, advocate for parental involvement to ensure kids’ needs are fully met.
