State Parental Consent Law & Treatment Use Among Adolescents with Depression:
Interactive State Policy Dashboard
This dashboard is a companion resource to our lab's peer-reviewed publication: Schleider JL, Smock A, Ahuvia IL, et al. State Parental Consent Law and Treatment Use Among Adolescents With Depression. JAMA Pediatr. Published online December 09, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.5361
About the dashboard. This interactive and educational dashboard displays United States state legislation detailing minors' ability to independently consent to their own mental healthcare. The legislation in the dashboard is current as of July 2024. This tool is intended to educate teens about their rights and bring awareness to the variability across states. The legislation that is listed may not reflect policies that mental health providers enact in their own settings (i.e. clinics), so be sure to check their individual policies as well.
Sources for legislation data: LexisNexis, Justia
Source for treatment access data: SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health
NOTE: The legend describes three categories of legislation.
1) States where the policy always requires parents/guardians to consent for their child’s mental healthcare.
2) States where the policy sometimes allows minors to consent to their own mental healthcare without parent/guardian consent.
3) States where the policy always allows minors to consent to their own mental healthcare without parent/guardian consent.
*The mental health treatment access rate lists the percentage of youth with at least one major depressive episode in the year 2021-2022 who were able to obtain mental healthcare in their state.
1) States where the policy always requires parents/guardians to consent for their child’s mental healthcare.
2) States where the policy sometimes allows minors to consent to their own mental healthcare without parent/guardian consent.
3) States where the policy always allows minors to consent to their own mental healthcare without parent/guardian consent.
*The mental health treatment access rate lists the percentage of youth with at least one major depressive episode in the year 2021-2022 who were able to obtain mental healthcare in their state.