The fear that stops parents from going to a hospital is not the hospital. It is the question of who has the children while they are there, and whether asking for help means losing them. California law has a specific, ordinary answer for the first question, and a narrower answer than most people fear for the second.
The short answer: if a relative or another adult you trust can take the children, a one-page Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit lets that person enroll them in school and consent to their medical care while you are away — "A seal or signature of the court is not required. This form is not required to be notarized."¹ A caregiver who is a relative and completes the whole form "shall have the same rights to authorize medical care and dental care for the minor that are given to guardians under Section 2353 of the Probate Code," including mental health treatment within the Probate Code's limits;² any other adult caregiver can enroll the child in school and consent to school-related medical care.² Your own decisions still win: a caregiver's decision "shall be superseded by any contravening decision of the parent or other person having legal custody of the minor," so long as your decision "does not jeopardize the life, health, or safety of the minor."² The affidavit "does not mean that the caregiver has legal custody of the minor," and it ends when the child stops living with the caregiver.¹ ² The child-welfare statute reaches a child whose "parent has been incarcerated or institutionalized and cannot arrange for the care of the child" — so the arrangement is the point.³ A hospitalization for which you have arranged care is not, by itself, a reason for a dependency case, and the Legislature has said the section is not to "disrupt the family unnecessarily or intrude inappropriately into family life."³
The tool: the Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit
The form is written into the Family Code itself, so any school, clinic or health plan can look up the statute and see that it is real.¹ The caregiver declares on the form that "The minor named below lives in my home and I am 18 years of age or older."¹ There are two versions on the same page:
- Items 1 to 4 — any adult caregiver. Signing these lets the caregiver "enroll a minor in school and consent to school-related medical care on behalf of the minor."²
- Items 1 to 8 — a caregiver who is a relative. Signing all eight gives "the same rights to authorize medical care and dental care for the minor that are given to guardians under Section 2353 of the Probate Code," and "may include mental health treatment subject to the limitations of Section 2356 of the Probate Code."² Those limits are the ones that apply to a court-appointed guardian: no involuntary placement in a mental health treatment facility under those powers, no experimental drugs except under the Health and Safety Code's own procedure, no convulsive treatment, no sterilisation.⁴
"Relative" is broad: an adult "related to the child by blood, adoption, or affinity within the fifth degree of kinship, including stepparents, stepsiblings, and all relatives whose status is preceded by the words 'great,' 'great-great,' or 'grand,' or the spouse of any of these persons even if the marriage was terminated by death or dissolution."¹ A grandmother, an aunt, an adult sibling, a step-parent, a former in-law — all qualify.
A provider of medical or dental care who relies on the affidavit in good faith, "without actual knowledge of facts contrary to those stated on the affidavit," "is not subject to criminal liability or to civil liability to any person, and is not subject to professional disciplinary action" — which is why clinics accept it.² The form itself says what it is not: "This declaration does not affect the rights of the minor's parents or legal guardian regarding the care, custody, and control of the minor, and does not mean that the caregiver has legal custody of the minor."¹ And it "does not confer dependency for health care coverage purposes" — the caregiver cannot put your child on their own insurance with it.¹
When it ends
"The affidavit is invalid after the school, health care provider, or health care service plan receives notice that the minor is no longer living with the caregiver."² The caregiver is responsible for giving that notice.¹ When you come home and the children come with you, it is over; nothing has to be undone in a court.
What if you are admitted suddenly?
A 5150 hold does not wait for paperwork. Three things are worth knowing in advance:
- The other parent. If the children's other parent has custody rights, they can take the children without any affidavit; the affidavit is for when the adult stepping in is not a parent or guardian.
- The affidavit can be signed by the caregiver, not by you. It is the caregiver's declaration — that the child lives in their home, that they are a qualified relative (item 5), and either that they "have advised the parent(s) or other person(s) having legal custody of the minor of my intent to authorize medical care, and have received no objection," or that they are "unable to contact the parent(s) or other person(s) having legal custody of the minor at this time, to notify them of my intended authorization."¹ A grandparent who takes the children on the night of the hold can complete it the next morning, without you.
- Tell the hospital who has the children. The child-welfare statute turns on whether the parent "cannot arrange for the care of the child."³ An arranged, named caregiver is the difference between a private family matter and a report.
Where CPS fits, by statute
The dependency statute lists the circumstances in which a child comes within the juvenile court's jurisdiction. Two are relevant here, and both have conditions. The first is a child left without care: "the child's parent has been incarcerated or institutionalized and cannot arrange for the care of the child."³ The second is harm: the child "has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm or illness, as a result of" — among other things — "the inability of the parent or guardian to provide regular care for the child due to the parent's or guardian's mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse."³ The diagnosis is not the ground; serious physical harm or its substantial risk is.
The same section carries the Legislature's instruction that "a physical disability, such as blindness or deafness, is no bar to the raising of happy and well-adjusted children," that a child "shall not be found to be a person described by this subdivision solely due to" homelessness or the lack of an emergency shelter, and that the section is not to "disrupt the family unnecessarily or intrude inappropriately into family life."³ What is a mandated reporter? →
If there is no one
If no relative or trusted adult can take the children, say so to the hospital social worker before the hold, if there is time, and at admission if there is not. The statute directs that savings from its enactment go to "services which support family maintenance and family reunification plans," naming "out-of-home respite care" and "temporary or emergency in-home caretakers" among them.³ A parent who plans — a named caregiver, a signed affidavit kept in a drawer, a psychiatric advance directive that says who is to be called — has answered the statute's question before it is asked. A psychiatric advance directive in California →
Worked example
A father with bipolar disorder feels an episode coming and agrees to a voluntary admission. His sister takes his two children. She signs the affidavit that evening — items 1 to 8, since she is a relative — and hands a copy to the school office and the paediatrician on Monday. The school enrolls nothing new but now has an adult who can pick the children up and consent to a sports physical; the paediatrician can treat an ear infection on her say-so.² If the father calls from the hospital and says no to a particular treatment, his decision controls unless it would endanger the child.² When he comes home two weeks later, the children come home, his sister tells the school and the doctor, and the affidavit is spent.² No court was involved, and no report was made, because the children were never "without any provision for support."³
Q&A
Q: Do I have to sign anything before I go in? A: No. The affidavit is the caregiver's declaration. Your signature is not required; a court's is not either.¹
Q: Can my sister put my kids on her health insurance with it? A: No — the form "does not confer dependency for health care coverage purposes."¹ The children stay on your coverage or Medi-Cal.
Q: The caregiver is a close friend, not a relative. A: A non-relative can sign items 1 to 4: school enrollment and school-related medical care.² For broader medical consent by a non-relative, the route is a court guardianship, or your own written consent given in advance.
Q: Will the hospital report me to CPS for being admitted? A: Admission is not a ground. The statute reaches a parent who "cannot arrange for the care of the child," or a child at substantial risk of serious physical harm.³ Arranging care, and telling the hospital you have, answers both.
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Related: What is a 5150 hold? → · Can my teen leave school for a confidential appointment? → · Will my therapy records come up in a custody case? →
Sources
- Cal. Family Code §6552 — the statutory Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit: the definition of "relative" as quoted; "This declaration does not affect the rights of the minor's parents or legal guardian regarding the care, custody, and control of the minor, and does not mean that the caregiver has legal custody of the minor"; "This affidavit does not confer dependency for health care coverage purposes"; the caregiver's declaration that "The minor named below lives in my home and I am 18 years of age or older"; item 6's two statements as quoted; the notice to caregivers that "If the minor stops living with you, the affidavit is no longer valid" and the duty to notify; "A seal or signature of the court is not required. This form is not required to be notarized" — california.public.law.
- Cal. Family Code §6550 — (a) a caregiver "18 years of age or older who completes items 1 to 4" may "enroll a minor in school and consent to school-related medical care on behalf of the minor"; a relative who completes items 1 to 8 "shall have the same rights to authorize medical care and dental care for the minor that are given to guardians under Section 2353 of the Probate Code," which "may include mental health treatment subject to the limitations of Section 2356 of the Probate Code"; (b) the caregiver's decision "shall be superseded by any contravening decision of the parent or other person having legal custody of the minor, provided the decision of the parent or other person having legal custody of the minor does not jeopardize the life, health, or safety of the minor"; (c) good-faith reliance — "is not subject to criminal liability or to civil liability to any person, and is not subject to professional disciplinary action"; (f) "The affidavit is invalid after the school, health care provider, or health care service plan receives notice that the minor is no longer living with the caregiver" — california.public.law.
- Cal. Welfare & Institutions Code §300 — subdivision (g), a child "left without any provision for support" or whose "parent has been incarcerated or institutionalized and cannot arrange for the care of the child"; subdivision (b)(1), a child who "has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm or illness, as a result of" listed causes including "the inability of the parent or guardian to provide regular care for the child due to the parent's or guardian's mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse," and subdivision (b)(2), "A child shall not be found to be a person described by this subdivision solely due to" homelessness or the lack of an emergency shelter; the Legislature's declarations that "a physical disability, such as blindness or deafness, is no bar to the raising of happy and well-adjusted children," that the section is not to "disrupt the family unnecessarily or intrude inappropriately into family life," and its direction that savings be used "to promote services which support family maintenance and family reunification plans, such as client transportation, out-of-home respite care, parenting training, and the provision of temporary or emergency in-home caretakers" — california.public.law.
- Cal. Probate Code §2356 — (a) "A ward or conservatee shall not be placed in a mental health treatment facility under this division against his or her will" (a state-hospital application under W&I §6000 excepted); (b) no experimental drugs except as the Health and Safety Code provides; (c) "Convulsive treatment as defined in Section 5325 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall not be performed on a ward or conservatee under this division"; (d) "A minor shall not be sterilized under this division" — california.public.law.
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