New legislation in New Jersey would lower the age for youth to access mental healthcare without parental consent to 13, New Jersey Monitor reported April 28.
The current age at which children can seek care without parental consent in the state is 16, which is the same for over 30 other states. If the bill is passed, New Jersey would join five states with access to mental healthcare at the age of 13.
Legislators tried to lower the age initially to 14 in 2016, but this was vetoed by former Gov. Chris Christie, who eventually signed the law allowing 16-year-olds to seek care.
"Frankly, that was the best we could get at the time, but I always thought this was unfinished business," Raj Mukherji, state assemblyman, told the publication. "There's no reason that high school-aged students shouldn't be able to seek mental health treatment and access care."
Opponents of the bill feel parents have a right to know what is going on with their children in order to help them and also believe children will not seek out services without their parents' permission.
"How does this help?" Robert Auth, fellow state assemblyman, told the publication. "If there's a problem, the parents should have some input on how it's going to be solved, and if not, that's very, very troubling. How much of our children's lives do we hand over to third parties?"