SECTIONS 6550-6552 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 6550-6552

6550. If the juvenile court, after finding that the minor is a
person described by Section 300, 601, or 602, is in doubt concerning
the state of mental health or the mental condition of the person, the
court may continue the hearing and proceed pursuant to this article.

6551. If the court is in doubt as to whether the person is mentally
disordered or mentally retarded, the court shall order the person to
be taken to a facility designated by the county and approved by the
State Department of Mental Health as a facility for 72-hour treatment
and evaluation. Thereupon, Article 1 (commencing with Section 5150)
of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 5 applies, except that the
professional person in charge of the facility shall make a written
report to the court concerning the results of the evaluation of the
person's mental condition. If the professional person in charge of
the facility finds the person is, as a result of mental disorder, in
need of intensive treatment, the person may be certified for not more
than 14 days of involuntary intensive treatment if the conditions
set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 5250 and subdivision (b) of
Section 5260 are complied with. Thereupon, Article 4 (commencing with
Section 5250) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 5 shall apply to
the person. The person may be detained pursuant to Article 4.5
(commencing with Section 5260), or Article 4.7 (commencing with
Section 5270.10), or Article 6 (commencing with Section 5300) of Part
1 of Division 5 if that article applies.
If the professional person in charge of the facility finds that
the person is mentally retarded, the juvenile court may direct the
filing in any other court of a petition for the commitment of a minor
as a mentally retarded person to the State Department of
Developmental Services for placement in a state hospital. In such
case, the juvenile court shall transmit to the court in which the
petition is filed a copy of the report of the professional person in
charge of the facility in which the minor was placed for observation.
The court in which the petition for commitment is filed may accept
the report of the professional person in lieu of the appointment, or
subpoenaing, and testimony of other expert witnesses appointed by the
court, if the laws applicable to such commitment proceedings provide
for the appointment by court of medical or other expert witnesses or
may consider the report as evidence in addition to the testimony of
medical or other expert witnesses.
If the professional person in charge of the facility for 72-hour
evaluation and treatment reports to the juvenile court that the minor
is not affected with any mental disorder requiring intensive
treatment or mental retardation, the professional person in charge of
the facility shall return the minor to the juvenile court on or
before the expiration of the 72-hour period and the court shall
proceed with the case in accordance with the Juvenile Court Law.
Any expenditure for the evaluation or intensive treatment of a
minor under this section shall be considered an expenditure made
under Part 2 (commencing with Section 5600) of Division 5 and shall
be reimbursed by the state as are other local expenditures pursuant
to that part.
The jurisdiction of the juvenile court over the minor shall be
suspended during such time as the minor is subject to the
jurisdiction of the court in which the petition for postcertification
treatment of an imminently dangerous person or the petition for
commitment of a mentally retarded person is filed or under remand for
90 days for intensive treatment or commitment ordered by such court.

6552. A minor who has been declared to be within the jurisdiction
of the juvenile court may, with the advice of counsel, make voluntary
application for inpatient or outpatient mental health services in
accordance with Section 5003. Notwithstanding the provisions of
subdivision (b) of Section 6000, Section 6002, or Section 6004, the
juvenile court may authorize the minor to make such application if it
is satisfied from the evidence before it that the minor suffers from
a mental disorder which may reasonably be expected to be cured or
ameliorated by a course of treatment offered by the hospital,
facility or program in which the minor wishes to be placed; and that
there is no other available hospital, program, or facility which
might better serve the minor's medical needs and best interest. The
superintendent or person in charge of any state, county, or other
hospital facility or program may then receive the minor as a
voluntary patient. Applications and placements under this section
shall be subject to the provisions and requirements of the
Short-Doyle Act (Part 2 (commencing with Section 5600), Division 5),
which are generally applicable to voluntary admissions.
If the minor is accepted as a voluntary patient, the juvenile
court may issue an order to the minor and to the person in charge of
the hospital, facility or program in which the minor is to be placed
that should the minor leave or demand to leave the care or custody
thereof prior to the time he is discharged by the superintendent or
person in charge, he shall be returned forthwith to the juvenile
court for a further dispositional hearing pursuant to the juvenile
court law.
The provisions of this section shall continue to apply to the
minor until the termination or expiration of the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court.