The measure would allow guidance counselors and some others to refer students to outside mental health services, with parental consent for kids under 16. (Hal Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
Assembly lawmakers advanced legislation Thursday that would allow school counselors to refer students to outside mental health practitioners.
Lawmakers pitched the bill, which cleared the chamber’s education committee in a 7-2 vote, as a means of connecting students who need behavioral health services beyond what school districts can provide on their own.
“Families struggle, they ask for referrals, and the professionals inside of the schools are, at this point in time, not necessarily allowed to offer their referral. This just makes it seamless for the handoff to happen,” said bill sponsor and committee chair Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt (D-Camden).
The measure would require a district to notify a student’s parents if the student is unable to consent to mental health care services on their own. State law requires a person be at least 16 years old to provide consent for mental health care. Parental consent is required for younger individuals.
The issuance of a referral would not compel a parent to seek further services, nor would it bar the school from continuing to provide mental health support to students.
“We are not interfering with the parental choice of picking what physician, what doctor, what counselor. We’re just saying, ‘Hey, your child may need a little bit more support and here are some individuals that maybe you can go see,’” said Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D-Essex).
The bill faced some opposition from parental rights groups who argued allowing school officials to issue referrals to mental health service providers would cut parents out of their children’s care.
“Can you guarantee parents of children in New Jersey will not be subject to gender transition or hormonal therapy at all with this?” said Michael Currie of Wake Up NJ, adding, “The answer’s quite simple. You can’t guarantee it.”
Some argued lawmakers should bring the minimum age to consent to mental health services back to 18.
Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia (R-Sussex), who voted against the bill along with Assemblyman John Azzariti (R-Bergen), argued the bill should require parental notification in all circumstances, with exceptions in cases of suspected abuse.
Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis (R-Union), a co-sponsor, was the only Republican to vote in favor of the bill, though she added she would like more clarity on the legislation.
Health centers in schools
In a party-line vote, the committee approved separate legislation that would codify schools’ ability to lease unused facilities to federally qualified health centers — outpatient clinics that receive federal funding and are subject to federal regulations — in what the bill’s supporters said is an effort to improve health care access for low-income residents and others with limited access to transportation.
“Because of the population we have in the [Lakewood] public school system, almost all of them are patients in FQHC, and we have a chronic problem of children not coming for their follow-up visits, of children not coming for their annual visits,” said Assemblyman Avi Schnall (D-Ocean). “There is a significant lack of care. Why? The FQHC is located at the border of Lakewood and Howell and many of these children are far away.”
Parental rights groups opposed that bill, too, claiming it was an effort to supplant family doctors and worrying parents who signed forms offering blanket consent to medical treatment could see their children receive services they would oppose.
“They’re purposefully placed, intended to replace the family doctor. And by moving the primary health care to the school environment, the administrators and doctors actually replace the parents as the decision makers, or they could potentially,” Florham Park resident Maria Quigley told the committee.
Others cautioned co-locating health services with a school could expose students to danger from some patients. Lawmakers on Thursday amended the bill to bar health centers from occupying school spaces where students are present.
Schnall noted that 16 schools across eight New Jersey counties already host federally qualified health centers on their property and had not been a source of issues. He said provisions in the bill that would allow districts to lease space to health centers without public bidding would stave off bidding wars between health care practitioners.
He added concerns about children obtaining health care without their parents’ consent are unfounded.
“We want to keep them safe. That’s what this bill does. This exists already and we don’t hear the outcry and the stories and the worry and the rhetoric. ‘Oh no, do you know what’s going on in Atlantic County, do you know what’s going on in Ocean County?’ It’s not happening. You know why? It can’t happen. You need parental consent, period,” he said.
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