My parents put me in a psychiatric hospital. Do I get any say?

A: Sometimes, and the right is narrow, fast and almost never explained properly. If you are 14 to 17, not emancipated, and a parent or guardian admitted you to a private psychiatric facility — not a state or county hospital, and not on a 72-hour hold — you can ask for an independent clinical review of whether you should be there.¹ You have up to 10 days after admission to ask, and you can change your mind and withdraw the request.²

What the review is. A psychiatrist reviews the admission within five days of your request — the clock runs from the request, not from admission. They must be a neutral party with training and experience treating adolescent psychiatric patients, with no financial relationship to your treating clinician and no personal or financial relationship with you.³ They must interview you privately. You have the right to be present, to have the patients' rights advocate help you, and to question the people recommending that you stay.⁴ There is one hard rule that cuts both ways: no party may have legal representation in the review — not you, and not the facility.⁴

What comes out of it. The reviewing psychiatrist's decision is binding, not advisory.⁵ The test is the one written in the statute: if further inpatient treatment is not reasonably likely to be beneficial to your mental disorder, or does not represent the least restrictive, most appropriate available setting, you are released to a custodial parent or guardian the same day the determination was made.⁵

The single most useful sentence in the statute. The admission criteria expressly say that **resistance to treatment does not, by itself, imply that you have a mental health disorder or count as evidence that you meet the criteria for admission.**¹ Not wanting to be there is not, in law, a reason you should be there.

What the facility owes you on day one. On admission it must tell you in writing that the independent clinical review exists, notify the patients' rights advocate within one working day, and give you the state's rights booklet.⁶ Ask for the advocate by name. That is the person whose whole job is these deadlines.

Where this right does not reach, stated plainly.

• If you are 12 or 13, there is no independent clinical review under this scheme.¹
• State and county hospitals are excluded, as are minors who are dependents or wards of the juvenile court, and minors admitted under the juvenile-court provision.¹ The scheme was written for private facilities where a private plan or insurer is paying — though the same statute also addresses Medi-Cal-eligible patients placed in those private facilities, with the county bearing the cost of the review.⁷
• If you were taken in on a hold rather than admitted by a parent, this is a different process with different clocks. What a 5150 hold is, and the deadlines inside it → For a minor, the hold statute also requires the facility to make every effort to notify a parent as soon as possible after you are detained.⁸
• You cannot check yourself out of a voluntary admission a parent made. The notice to leave comes from the parent or guardian, not from you — and no one admitted as a minor may be held after they turn 18.⁹

Do this: write down the date and hour you were admitted, because the 10-day clock runs from it. Then say to any staff member: "I am requesting the independent clinical review under Welfare and Institutions Code section 6002.20, and I want to speak to the patients' rights advocate." Put it in writing if you can, and keep a copy. If nobody responds, the county patients' rights advocate can be reached from outside the building by whoever is helping you.

Sources

1. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.10 — the admission-procedure scheme for facilities licensed under Health & Safety Code §1250 et seq. providing inpatient psychiatric treatment, "excluding state and county hospitals," and the six qualifying conditions: 14 or older and under 18, not emancipated, not detained under §5585.50 or §5585.53, not voluntarily committed under §6552, not a dependent under §300 or a ward under §602, and admitted with a mental health disorder diagnosis. §6002.10(f)(1): "resistance to treatment … shall not, in itself, imply the presence of a mental health disorder or constitute evidence that the minor meets the admission criteria" — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
2. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.20(b) — the request may be made "up to 10 days after admission," and may be rescinded.
3. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.25 — the review is conducted by "a licensed psychiatrist with training and experience in treating psychiatric adolescent patients, who is a neutral party to the review, having no direct financial relationship with the treating clinician, nor a personal or financial relationship with the patient."
4. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.30 — §6002.30(d): "The review shall take place within five days of the request"; conducted by a psychiatrist who must privately interview the minor; rights to be present, to be assisted by the patients' rights advocate, and to question those recommending inpatient treatment; §6002.30(i): "No party shall have legal representation in the review process."
5. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.35(b) and (d) — the reviewing psychiatrist "shall render a binding decision," and on a determination that further inpatient treatment "is not reasonably likely to be beneficial to the minor's mental disorder or does not represent the least restrictive, most appropriate available setting," "the minor shall be released from the facility to a custodial parent or guardian on the same day the determination was made."
6. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.15(c)(1)–(3) — written notice of the review on admission, notice to the patients' rights advocate within one working day, and the Department of Health Care Services rights booklet.
7. Welfare & Institutions Code §6002.40(a)–(b) — legislative intent that these sections "affect only the rights of minors confined in private mental health facilities on the consent of their parents or guardians, where the costs of treatment are paid or reimbursed by a private insurer or private health service plan," with review costs allocated to the plan or insurer, and to the county for Medi-Cal-eligible patients in those facilities.
8. Welfare & Institutions Code §5585.50(a) — a minor may be taken into custody for 72-hour evaluation and treatment in a county-designated facility for minors where, as a result of a mental disorder, the minor is a danger to others or to self or is gravely disabled, "and authorization for voluntary treatment is not available"; "The facility shall make every effort to notify the minor's parent or legal guardian as soon as possible after the minor is detained."
9. Welfare & Institutions Code §6000(a)(2), (f) and (g) — the application for a minor's voluntary admission is made by the parent or guardian, notice to leave is given by them, and no person admitted as a minor may be detained after reaching the age of majority. §6004 is the county-hospital equivalent. Welfare & Institutions Code §6552 is a separate track for minors already within the juvenile court's jurisdiction, who may apply with the advice of counsel and the court's authorisation.

All sections read on the operative text on 18 August 2026. This page describes the statute; it is not legal advice, and the facts here matter enormously.