{"id":279126,"date":"2025-11-23T15:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T15:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/279126\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T15:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T15:37:09","slug":"springfield-students-challenge-bill-on-parental-consent-for-mental-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/279126\/","title":{"rendered":"Springfield students challenge bill on parental consent for mental health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

House Bill 172, which is currently in the Ohio House Health Committee, would repeal an Ohio law that allows<\/a> minors older than 14 to receive up to six sessions of mental health services without parental consent.<\/p>\n

Under law, the minor\u2019s guardians should only be informed if the professional \u201cdetermines that there is a compelling need for disclosure based on a substantial probability of harm to the minor or to other persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

ExploreArea rep\u2019s bill would require parental consent for youth mental health treatment<\/a><\/p>\n

Springfield High School students Jack Hill, Usayd Ashraf and Emerson Babian, as well as BATS president from Miami Valley School Mary Cunningham, testified before the Health Committee against the bill.<\/p>\n

Bill \u2018makes a dangerously false assumption,\u2019 student says<\/p>\n

Babian, vice president of BATS, testified that the bill is an obstacle to mental health access, something he said should be a priority for youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our understanding that HB 172 would attempt to create a stronger connection between a child and their parent by requiring parental consent for a child to receive mental health services in emergency situations,\u201d Babian said. \u201cWe sympathize with the ultimate goal of this bill: To create strong familial connections. That is a key ingredient in a successful society. However, the approach that HB 172 takes to achieve this common goal is (1) assumptive and (2) backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no exception for emergency mental health care without parental consent, Babian said the bill \u201cmakes a dangerously false assumption\u201d that every child in Ohio has a parent or guardian to whom they can go.<\/p>\n

\u201cA parent that isn\u2019t abusive, a parent that isn\u2019t addicted to drugs or alcohol, a parent that doesn\u2019t neglect the current mental health norms,\u201d Babian said. \u201cWhen I say that assumption is dangerously false, I don\u2019t say that as an opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babian cited a Clark County youth behavior risk survey that found 28% of high schoolers lived with a parent with alcohol or drug problems and 42% had \u201crarely or never had\u201d a caring adult to go to about their feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill would force over \u00bc of our students to go to a potentially unstable adult before being able to receive emergency care,\u201d Babian said.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Credit: Jessica Orozco<\/p>\n

\"icon<\/p>\n

Credit: Jessica Orozco<\/p>\n

\u2018For some students, requiring parental consent doesn\u2019t help them; it traps them\u2019<\/p>\n

Ashraf, a Springfield High junior, shared with city commissioners and during his statehouse testimony a story about a student being caught vaping in a bathroom. The student was sent to the office, where his mother was waiting and said she had told him \u201cnot to bring that to school today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason for sharing this story is to admit something that is sort of taboo or we as a society do not like to admit; sometimes the parent is part of the problem. Parents have one of, if not, the largest influence on a kid\u2019s life, so when a parent is normalizing, encouraging, or replying with frustration instead of genuine concern to a problem, you can\u2019t expect that student to go home and ask them for permission to get mental health help,\u201d Ashraf said. \u201cIn fact, when that kid does not have the option to speak with a mental health professional because of their parents, they turn to the only coping mechanism they have: pills, substances, skipping school or even hurting themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Some parents may not take mental health seriously and may become angry at the subject due to factors like their own mental health, cultural background and stigma, Ashraf said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case like I just shared, it could encourage the behaviors we are trying to prevent. For some students, requiring parental consent doesn\u2019t help them; it traps them,\u201d he said. \u201cThis event of bad parental influence isn\u2019t a rare case. Thousands of kids are dealing with this very reality, where their parents minimize their struggles or don\u2019t allow their children to seek the help that they truly need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ohio law allowing the limited sessions without parental consent is a \u201csafety net\u201d many kids rely on, Ashraf said, and the bill would remove that.<\/p>\n

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said during the commission meeting that his gut reaction would have been to support the bill, but the students\u2019 presentation changed his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I be transparent with you? This is probably something that I would be pretty resistant to, just going to be honest. Until I heard your compelling argument,\u201d Rue said. \u201cI really have to think that every not family\u2019s like my family. It would devastate me that one of my kids would seek mental health [care] without me knowing because I\u2019m for mental health and I want them to be in counseling if they need it, but I know I\u2019m not normal when it comes to a lot of students and their families that they encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Krystal Brown, who is also supervisor of student support services at Springfield City School District, said during the commission meeting that in her experience, she has seen the impact of harm being done to children in the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems it would be unreasonable to think that their parent would be OK with them going out and sharing this information about the harm that\u2019s being caused or the trauma that\u2019s constantly going on at home,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

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Brown also said she feels this mental health therapy without parental consent is being lumped in with the idea that kids will get \u201csome other sort of medical procedure\u201d without parental knowledge. She emphasized that these are \u201ctwo very vastly different things.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bill would remove confusion for schools, lawmaker says<\/p>\n

Bill sponsor Rep. Johnathan Newman, R-Troy, previously said<\/a> he could not imagine any scenario in which he\u2019d be uncomfortable with the state barring a minor from receiving mental health care without parental consent and that the contents of this bill should have been passed last year when the \u201cParents Bill of Rights\u201d was approved.<\/p>\n

Newman testified when he introduced the bill that it would remove confusion with schools, saying if the law remains, ” it would confuse schools making them think they should promote children keeping knowledge of mental health treatment from their parents.” He said this directly contradicts the \u201cParents Bill of Rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said parents should know about and authorize all mental health treatment for their children and that asking a child dealing with a mental health problem if they\u2019d like their parents to know about their forthcoming treatment \u201cis wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a school administrator or mental health professional suspects abuse of neglect from parent to child, Newman said law enforcement must be contacted, per state law.<\/p>\n

Newman did not return a request for comment in time for publication for this story.<\/p>\n

Current law \u2018undermines parents as primary caregivers\u2019 <\/p>\n

Kathy Boff, volunteer with grassroots organization Protect Ohio Children, previously testified that the bill would close \u201ca dangerous loophole and aligns Ohio\u2019s laws with family-driven care.\u201d She said the current law \u201cundermines parents as primary caregivers\u201d and expressed concerns about a lack of data on its use, outcomes and impacts, \u201cleaving a significant gap in oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boff addressed what she called \u201cvalid concerns\u201d about the law protecting \u201cat-risk youth,\u201d but said state law has emergency provisions and safeguards for reporting abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cParental involvement is proven to improve mental health outcomes for minors, aligning with Ohio\u2019s family-centric values,\u201d Boff said.<\/p>\n

BATS representatives urged those opposed to the bill to contact their statehouse representatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"House Bill 172, which is currently in the Ohio House Health Committee, would repeal an Ohio law that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[232,102,97381,93962,1906,6623,56,54,55,1068],"class_list":{"0":"post-279126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-general-news","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-hurricane-melissa","11":"tag-hurricanes-and-typhoons","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}