You might see it in news stories, or you may hear people drop it in conversation: “So-and-so was Baker-Acted,” or “So-and-so was taken into custody under the Baker Act.”
With mental health crises being ubiquitous and growing in Florida and across the country, the sad fact is one day you or someone you know may have to deal with a Baker Act situation.
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Here is what it means.
How does the Baker Act work?
The Baker Act is also known as the Florida Mental Health Act. The law was written in 1972 by one of the first women to ever serve in the Florida Legislature, Maxine Baker, of Dade County.
The Baker Act allows a person to be involuntarily detained and examined if they are believed to be having a mental health crisis and posing a danger to themselves or others.
Only three types of people can initiate a Baker Act. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, in fiscal year 2021-2022, law enforcement officers initiated 53% of Baker Act cases, often because someone calls 911 seeking help for a loved one. Mental health professionals or physicians accounted for 45% of Baker Acts. Judicial orders accounted for the remaining 2%.
But just because you call for someone to be Baker-Acted doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen. By law, law enforcement officers can’t just take someone into custody.
“A family member may be experiencing another family member in crisis, call 911, law enforcement will do a threat assessment,” said Dr. Marni Stahlman, president of the Mental Health Association of Central Florida. “If they are not actively suicidal or homicidal, the law enforcement officer will not complete the Baker Act.”
If they do appear to be a threat, the person is taken to a special behavioral facility called a Baker Act Receiving Facility (BARF). The person can be admitted for up to 72 hours, where they are evaluated and stabilized.
[RELATED: How to get mental health help in Central Florida]
What happens at the receiving facility?
“A Baker Act’s purpose is not to provide treatment,” said Stahlman. “It’s to provide an evaluation, a stabilization, and the development of a treatment plan.”
Once at a receiving facility, mental health specialists evaluate the patient. If they still meet the Baker Act criteria, they are stabilized (sometimes with medications).
A patient is then supposed to go before a magistrate or judge, where the BARF team will discuss a treatment plan. This may involve follow-up mental health appointments, information on getting medications, and a plan for living arrangements, transportation and other necessities for continuing treatment. If the patient does not have loved ones available, a guardian advocate is usually assigned for them.
But Stahlman says sometimes a person who is Baker-Acted may be discharged before they see a judge. Stahlman says the law provides a difficult balance for mental health care providers.
“If the patient is not active with those threats, the hospital has to discharge,” she said. “The goal is to get them the best level of appropriate care while respecting their rights.”
Baker Act problems
The downside of this is sometimes a person ends up being Baker-Acted more than once.
DCF says that in fiscal year 2021-2022, 115,239 people accounted for 170,048 Baker Act exams. Data shows 22% of patients got a Baker Act exam more than once within a year, and 27% of patients were examined more than once over a three-year period.
Stahlman said repeat patients occur quite a bit in people without access to medications, either because they’re uninsured, or they can’t get them — or they won’t take them.
“There’s very little you can do,” Stahlman said. “They don’t have funding, transportation, resources, good outpatient treatment tethered to an outpatient center.”
Then there is the stigma behind being Baker-Acted, because while it’s not a crime, the patient does get a law enforcement record. That can affect applications for all sorts of things, like getting a job.
Stahlman says the experience alone is criminalizing — by law, the person being Baker-Acted must be put in handcuffs and transported in a law enforcement vehicle.
“When someone is in a mental health crisis that necessitates a Baker Act you are already in a state of trauma,” Stahlman said. “You are probably not coherent or comprehending anything that is going on around you. And to be handcuffed and put in a police car to be transported to the (receiving center) is so much more traumatizing.”
Stahlman says every year there are efforts by lawmakers to try to “decriminalize” the Baker Act, but they rarely get far.
In some cities and counties, law enforcement agencies are working to reduce the need to Baker Act people. For instance, Orlando Police Department and Orange County Sheriff’s Office have special units that are trained to deescalate mental health crises. Stahlman says in the two years since the programs have been in effect, the data shows promise.
“There’s no question that the Florida Mental Health Act on its face was the right intention. But we are so far removed from 1972 in where we are now,” Stahlman said. “There are things we need to look at differently.”
If you or someone you know is in a mental health crisis, you can call 211 locally, or 988 for the suicide and crisis lifeline. Trained dispatchers will help you find a way to get the care you need.
If you are in an immediate emergency and need law enforcement help, dial 911.
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