Legislation Filed to Prevent “Mandatory Psychological Screening” of Children

I never thought it would come to this, and I am not a fan of Ron Paul. But… Paul and others have introduced H.R. 2218, called the “Parental Consent Act.” The purpose of the bill is to prevent children from being subjected to mandatory mental-health screening without the express, written, voluntary, informed consent of their parents or legal guardians. From the bill:

(a) Universal or Mandatory Mental Health Screening Program—No Federal funds may be used to establish or implement any universal or mandatory mental health, psychiatric, or socio-emotional screening program.

(b) Refusal To Consent as Basis of a Charge of Child Abuse or Education Neglect—No Federal education funds may be paid to any local educational agency or other instrument of government that uses the refusal of a parent or legal guardian to provide express, written, voluntary, informed consent to mental health screening for his or her child as the basis of a charge of child abuse, child neglect, medical neglect, or education neglect until the agency or instrument demonstrates that it is no longer using such refusal as a basis of such a charge.

(c) Definition—For purposes of this Act , the term `universal or mandatory mental health, psychiatric, or socio-emotional screening program; (1) means any mental health screening program in which a set of individuals (other than members of the Armed Forces or individuals serving a sentence resulting from conviction for a criminal offense) is automatically screened without regard to whether there was a prior indication of a need for mental health treatment;

We already have children being given birth control and abortions without parental consent, and I understand, even psychotropic drugs. And here’s something I thought I would never write at SHS—From Paul’s speech introducing the bill:

The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has recommended that the federal and state governments work toward the implementation of a comprehensive system of mental-health screening for all Americans. The commission recommends that universal or mandatory mental-health screening first be implemented in public schools as a prelude to expanding it to the general public. However, neither the commission’s report nor any related mental-health screening proposal requires parental consent before a child is subjected to mental-health screening.

I had never heard of the Commission on Mental Health. Here it is, established by President Bush, no less.

The idea that Americans should all have routine mental health screenings is, pardon the pun, nuts. Whatever the motive for the recommendation, it would eventually be about calling people with politically incorrect views and attitudes a “mental health problem.” (For example, political conservatism has been called a mental illness.)

Alas, it seems to me that preventing mandatory mental health care screening for kids who have no indication of disturbance, is, in this day and age necessary. The fact that the bill almost surely has no chance of passage proves the reasonableness of the concern.