§ 394.4785, Fla. Stat. · Part I. FLORIDA MENTAL HEALTH ACT
Children and adolescents; admission and placement in mental facilities.
Text — 2026 Florida Statutes
(1) A child or adolescent as defined in s. 394.492 may not be admitted to a state-owned or state-operated mental health treatment facility. A child may be admitted pursuant to s. 394.4625 or s. 394.467 to a crisis stabilization unit or a residential treatment center licensed under this chapter or a hospital licensed under chapter 395. The treatment center, unit, or hospital must provide the least restrictive available treatment that is appropriate to the individual needs of the child or adolescent and must adhere to the guiding principles, system of care, and service planning provisions contained in part III of this chapter.
(2) A person under the age of 14 who is admitted to any hospital licensed pursuant to chapter 395 may not be admitted to a bed in a room or ward with an adult patient in a mental health unit or share common areas with an adult patient in a mental health unit. However, a person 14 years of age or older may be admitted to a bed in a room or ward in the mental health unit with an adult if the admitting physician or psychiatric nurse documents in the case record that such placement is medically indicated or for reasons of safety. Such placement must be reviewed by the attending physician or a designee or on-call physician each day and documented in the case record.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
ss. 1, 2, ch. 82-212; s. 1, ch. 85-254; s. 1, ch. 87-209; s. 2, ch. 2000-265; s. 152, ch. 2000-349; s. 23, ch. 2024-15.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 Florida Statutes
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0394/0394.html
- Text hash
- sha256 e9676798a948b6e6a59d967f574af62a35090d8eebca6ce58aac2efae7c69f43
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
- composed from the Legislature's structured HTML (one source of text; no PDF extraction); a second, independent reading of the same bytes agrees character for character
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
The Florida Statutes
- § 394.4625, Fla. Stat.Voluntary admissions.Printed as s. 394.4625
- § 394.467, Fla. Stat.Involuntary inpatient placement and involuntary outpatient services.Printed as s. 394.467
- § 394.492, Fla. Stat.Definitions.Printed as s. 394.492
- Fla. Stat. ch. 395HOSPITAL LICENSING AND REGULATIONPrinted as chapter 395
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.