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When Does a Minor Become an Adult?October 27 , 2003When does a minor become an adult? In Washington, the generally-accepted age of consent is 18. That means anyone 18 or older has all the rights and responsibilities of an adult.There are exceptions, of course. The legal drinking age is 21. There are other ages of consent which at which are adult rights are conferred. For example, Washington state law allows anyone 13 or older to decide whether to undergo inpatient mental health or substance abuse counseling. Some want to raise the age of consent in that area. (Audio) Doug: Fourteen young people live and are treated at the Tamarack Center, on the campus the center shares with Spokane’s Intercollegiate College of Nursing. They are the serious cases; kids whose parents can’t handle them, kids who didn’t make it at other treatment centers. Tamarack Executive Director Tim Davis says the majority come voluntarily and, once they’re there, most choose to stay. But Davis says, once in a while, a patient will get fed up and leave. Tim Davis “They do not want mental health treatment; the law says they do not have to have it. The law says that they notify myself, the person in charge, and then the law gives me a period of time, if they’re in this facility, to have them moved somewhere else or, simply, discharged.” Doug: Davis does have the authority to hold, indefinitely, young people who are dangerous to themselves or to others. And he says the law allows him to hold those who are disabled enough that they can’t take care of their own basic needs. But if patients who are old enough don’t fall into those categories, and they don’t want to be at Tamarack anymore, they can go. Tim Davis doesn’t think kids that young should have that choice. Davis “Kids that do have serious emotional problems aren’t necessarily able all the time to make the best judgment about what they need.” Doug: Richland State Representative Jerome Delvin agrees. Delvin, a Republican and a police officer, introduced a bill in the legislature this year that would raise the state’s age of consent for mental health and substance abuse treatment from 13 to 16. Jerome Delvin “Once they were told, these thirteen, fourteen year old, fifteen year olds were told they didn’t have to be there, they would check themselves out. There was no way to keep these kids who definitely needed the treatment in a facility for treatment.” Doug: Delvin says parents are also frustrated. He says the state’s low age of consent drives some of them to take drastic measures. Delvin “I get a lot of calls and a lot of e-mails from parents that, in some circumstances, have been forced to really kidnap their kid and take them out-of-state in order to get treatment. I don’t think we need that, as a state, to have that kind of action need to be taken by parents in order to get treatment for their kids, that they oughta be able to have that treatment here in Washington state, where we can have rules and regulations on them because there are horror stories about other treatment areas outside the state.” Doug: Indeed, Tim Davis and other providers at Washington inpatient facilities complain about losing young patients to states with higher ages of consent, like Idaho and Utah. Dr. Charles Huffine from King County’s child and adolescent medical agency says out-of-state programs often aren’t regulated as stringently as those in Washington. Charles Huffine “There are states where the laws support a kind of heavy-handed dealing with adolescents and, I believe, a preying on the frustrations and a sense of calamity that many parents have when they’re dealing with a very, very difficult kid.” Doug: Huffine supports keeping the age of consent where it is. He says young people should have some veto power about their mental health or substance abuse treatment. He worries treatment programs in other states, some of which force young people to live in wilderness situations, can do more harm than good. Huffine testified against a proposed change to the age of consent last session. Representative Jerome Delvin’s bill reached the state House floor, but wasn’t put to a vote. Delvin says he and his co-sponsor, Seattle Democrat Mary Lou Dickerson, may reintroduce their bill next session. For “Growing Up Healthy”, I’m Doug Nadvornick. By Doug Nadvornick 
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