Title: What is the Baker Act? How do you Baker Act someone? - Foundations Wellness Center
Headings: What is the Baker Act? How do you Baker Act someone?
What is the Baker Act? How do you Baker Act someone?
What is the criteria for the Baker Act?
How to Baker Act someone
1. A Circuit Court
2. A Law Enforcement Officer
3. Certain Professionals
What is it like to be Baker Acted?
What happens after the Baker Act has expired?
How long can a Baker acted person be committed to treatment?
Who pays for the Baker Act?
Baker Act rights
SOURCES
Justin Baksh, LMHC, MCAP, Chief Clinical Officer
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Content: There is “reason to believe” that a person has a mental illness and, because of the mental illness: The person has refused to be examined, even after “conscientious” explanation and disclosure of the examination’s purpose. Or, due to the person’s mental illness, they lack the ability to determine that an examination is needed, AND
A lack of proper treatment will pose a “real and present” threat of substantial neglect from lack of self-care that cannot be avoided by the intervention or help of family members and friends or other available services, OR
In the absence of proper treatment, the individual will be highly likely (based on recent behavior) to cause serious physical harm to themselves or others in the “near future.” As you can see, it all starts with evidence of a mental illness. In the 2014 Baker Act Handbook, mental illness is defined as: “… an impairment of the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious control of one’s actions or of the ability to perceive or understand reality, which impairment substantially interferes with a person’s ability to meet the ordinary demands of living, regardless of etiology”
It’s important to note what is not covered under that definition. For example, neither a developmental disability nor retardation is not included. Also, if a loved one has a substance abuse problem as opposed to a mental condition, the Baker Act does not apply. As mentioned previously, Florida’s Marchman Act should be considered. Conditions which merely produce antisocial behavior are also not a part of the Baker Act’s mental illness definition.