California bill: therapist power over parent power
California is getting close to passing another dangerous law that undermines parental authority:
California Democrats on Tuesday advanced legislation to let mental health professionals remove children from their homes and place them in state custody without parental consent.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Assembly Bill 665 on a party-line vote. The bill would allow poor children as young as age 12 to check into state-run youth shelters on the unconditional say-so of a therapist or counselor…
The bill’s advance is the latest victory in a campaign by California Democrats to roll back parental rights, often in the name of allowing minors to choose their own gender. Other legislation making its way through the legislature would punish parents and foster parents who do not “affirm” children’s transgender identity.
Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D.) and state senator Scott Wiener (D.), the co-authors of the bill, reiterated on Tuesday that they simply seek to give all children equal access to mental health services, as privately insured minors from age 12 can already receive outpatient therapy without parental consent. The bill would only apply to kids on Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program that provides health coverage to eligible low-income residents.
“This bill protects children. It makes children safer. It makes children healthier,” said Wiener. “It’s unfortunate that this bill, like so many, has been caught up in this right-wing outrage machine.”…
There would be no obligation, as there is for minors on private insurance, for therapists or counselors to show that a 12-year-old patient is mature enough or in a dangerous situation before transferal to a “residential shelter.” Whether or not to inform the parents of the move would also be left to the discretion of the mental health professional, who could be an intern or trainee.
“Have each of you used your elected platforms and networks to inform and speak with the people of California?” Los Angeles mother Wendy Minas asked the Senate panel during her testimony against the bill. “It doesn’t seem so, because when I talk to my community, no one knows about it. And when they hear about it, they are shocked and angry that you would consider passing an extreme bill that would break apart families during a child’s most difficult and challenging years.”
Other critics have warned that if the bill becomes law, troubled children will exploit its provisions to run away from home. Transgender kids, in particular, could try to negate their parents’ veto over sex-change treatments, including by accusing them of abuse.
That’s already happening – and not just in California.
I predict that, if passed, this will be used to take custody from parents who refuse to “affirm” the child’s “gender.” Affirming a child’s gender is the same as denying a child’s biological sex, by the way, to de-Orwellify the phrase. The age of twelve is the perfect age to choose, because a great many of these cases involve pubescent girls nowadays.
This is not going to be limited to trans cases, either. This is part of a concerted effort on the part of the left to undermine the power of parents and substitute the power of the state or state agents – which therapists increasing are. A huge percentage of therapists are on the left, and those who work in the field of gender are required in California to offer “affirmation therapy” rather than “exploration (that is, traditional) therapy,” which makes it almost a certainty that they will be onboard with the leftist and “woke” agenda involving what they call “trans children.”
The Public Marxist Seminaries teach and talk, kids into being Trannies, seems most of the teachers these days are mentally deficiency and tell kids not to tell parents and when finally come out the state confiscated the kids from the parents.
It’s pushing mental illness
In other words, if you don’t abort ‘it’ then ‘it’ belongs to the State.
I’m sure that a “state-run youth shelter” is the ideal place for a 12 year old confused about his or her sex. I’m pretty sure that none of these confused kids will end up being abused and/or trafficked.
Leftist keep making laws that view parents as the enemies of their children. In a few extreme cases, there are parents who are so abusive or negligent that their children are much better off away from them. Laws like this use the unusual exceptions to make anti-parent rules for every case. The same is true with the radical pro-abortion laws in several states. They bring up the “hard cases,” like fetal abnormalities or serious maternal medical conditions, to extend unlimited abortion on demand at all stages of pregnancy for all cases.
Laws based on extreme cases applied to all cases are almost always bad laws.
The Left has always claimed children as creatures of the state. Why are they emboldened now to act on it?
Neo is of course correct. Traditional therapy for confused children will most often help them work on their underlying problems. In many, many cases, resolving those makes the urge to try to change sex diminish or go away.
Neo is of course correct. Traditional therapy for confused children will most often help them work on their underlying problems. In many, many cases, resolving those makes the urge to try to change sex diminish or go away.
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Doubt the therapy will do a blessed thing. Getting a year older might help. The young lack perspective.
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Democratic politicians in California are frankly evil. They won’t be turned out of office for it.
Leftist keep making laws that view parents as the enemies of their children. In a few extreme cases, there are parents who are so abusive or negligent that their children are much better off away from them.
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See the research of Lynette Burrows on the ‘children’s rights’ movement in Britain and on social work practice in Sweden. Sweden criminalized spanking in 1979 and social workers had a field day, seizing the young at rate over 20x that which prevailed in Germany. Social work is a ‘profession’ which should not exist.
ErisGuy asks: Why are they emboldened now to act on it?
IMO ‘they’ cannot/will not have children of their own but have an insatiable mental and physical urge to ‘do as they will’ with children. Emboldened now because a legal/moral tipping point has been reached allowing them free range to ‘do as they will’. Liberalism has been accurately described as a mental disorder, this is just another verification.
Clearly this is wrong. The other question is what if the parents do approve. If I heard correctly, Chris Christie says sure, and got a lot of flak for that.
If, up until now, you’ve told yourself that there’s a lot of exaggeration in the news, that “things really aren’t that bad,” and that you didn’t have a real reason to flee the increasing madhouse that is California–and you have young kids–this certainly provides a major incentive to, get the hell out.
Washington state beat California on this “humane” right.
Totalitarians, nothing outside the state ….. Children are too valuable to be entrusted to parents.
It doesn’t take an idiot to raze a village (or a society), just enough leftists.
insley makes californias clown car seems small,
cb:
Liberals and leftists have children. All the ones I know have children, and I know a lot of them, both young and old. However, they know that in California, this bill won’t be used against them.
But one thing they might not have bargained for is that Hispanic parents and/or black parents, although reliably voting for Democrats, may not be onboard with the trans children part of the program. An interesting backlash could end up occurring.
At the moment, however, the trans phenomenon among children and teens is more of a white middle-class to upper-middle class phenomenon.
Art Deco:
Many detransitioners say that it was finally getting traditional therapy that helped them accept their biological bodies, and that until then they were very very troubled. They had thought transition would fix them – and had been told by “gender affirming” therapists that it would, but when it didn’t end their mental anguish they were in even deeper despair (despite getting older). Finally getting decent, “exploratory” therapy helped them.
I may be unfair, but I have always regarded therapy, especially of the Freudian variety, as mostly politics and very little, if any, science. That impression wasn’t helped when I met people wishing to become therapists who had no understanding of other people and were equally clueless about themselves. They were remarkable in that regard, truly outliers.
Chuck:
First of all, there are very very few Freudian therapists these days.
And the therapists that exist nowadays are from many different schools of therapy. There are terrible ones, okay ones, and good ones. I wouldn’t even try to guess at the percentages of each group. A good therapist can be extremely helpful. Even an okay one can be. A pretty bad or bad one can be very destructive.
That’ the problem – finding a good one.
I found therapy quite helpful at times. I think I had a good eye for those who would be helpful and those not.
Keep in mind that many troubled people have almost no one to talk to about their painful inner lives.
I also found some therapy books helpful. I’d particularly recommend Julian Simon’s “Good Mood: The New Psychology of Overcoming Depression.”
Simon was the well-known economist who won the famous scarcity wager with Paul Ehrlich. In spite of Simon’s accomplishments, he was brutally depressed for 13 years of his life.
I specifically mention Simon because the therapeutic approach he took was Aaron Beck’s “Cognitive Therapy” which is quite cognitive and might surprise Art Deco and Chuck. Simon’s depression lifted quickly when he started applying Beck’s principles to his life.
SImon provides his whole book free here:
http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Good_Mood/
From what I learned from Simon and Beck it is obvious how social media is ground zero for generating depression in its users today:
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A negative self-comparison is the last link in the causal chain leading to sadness and depression. It is the “common pathway,” in medical parlance.
You feel sad when
a) you compare your actual situation with some “benchmark” hypothetical situation, and the comparison appears negative; and
b) you think you are helpless to do anything about it.
This is the whole of the theory.
http://www.juliansimon.com/writings/Good_Mood/article1.html
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That insight is so quick and brilliant. It made such a difference to me.
Social media is plain toxic for encouraging people to compare themselves negatively to other people self-advertising how great their lives are.
It’s not hard to apply this to the online aspects of the current trans mania.
My wife thinks that the world will end in a virus.
I don’t. I think the human race will kill itself.
It is bad enough when an increasing percentage of the population is homosexual, so does not participate in procreation. It gets worse as you add another percentage that misidentifies its sex (gender?), so does not know what role to play in the procreation process.
But, given the political attacks on parents that seem to be increasing exponentially in numbers, and mindlessly in their severity, why would anyone create a child only to have it turned over to bureaucrats?
Maybe to save humanity, the Progressives will initiate programs for the state to buy children as an incentive for people to produce them. Kind of like the current welfare system on a massive scale. Then the “village of experts” could raise and indoctrinate them. The breeders would could be touted as heroines/heroes of the state for their contributions. (They would have to be careful to hide any pleasure they found in the duties.) They may feel that they had a function in life; although they might feel an emotional void from time to time. Would it be trite to call such an arrangement a “growth industry”?
Oldflyer:
The huge bias against husbands in US divorce proceedings, as well as the more general war on masculinity, has also prejudiced many men against marriage.
Women are the gatekeepers to sex. Men are the gatekeepers to marriage. Current marriage rates are rock bottom.
https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/2020/4/marriage-rate-blog-test
Maybe to save humanity, the Progressives will initiate programs for the state to buy children as an incentive for people to produce them.
The progs can just buy the children smuggled across the southern border; ask Mayor Adams about the number of “migrants” flooding into NYC every day.
Huxley, I was typing my trite little comment and missed your two offerings.
I have taken the liberty of copying those insights and emailing them to my address list, because I believe they could be helpful to some.
Since they have no way of tracking you, and you did put your personal experience into the public venue; I trust that you do not object.
Anyway, thanks for bringing this to the forum..
@ Neo > “Hispanic parents and/or black parents, although reliably voting for Democrats, may not be onboard with the trans children part of the program. An interesting backlash could end up occurring.”
That already happened with another of the Democrats’ “client classes.”
Just one of the recent stories:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/06/leftist-agitators-attack-armenian-parents-protesting-lgbtq-activities-in-glendale-ca-schools/
Less recent, very much on point.
https://notthebee.com/article/dear-americans-they-believe-they-own-your-children
U-Haul says ‘Thank You!’
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/exodus-nearly-half-californians-are-considering-leaving-state/
Without parents approval or notification… ?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/world-health-organizations-comprehensive-sexuality-education-teaches-young/
Many detransitioners say that it was finally getting traditional therapy that helped them accept their biological bodies, and that until then they were very very troubled. They had thought transition would fix them – and had been told by “gender affirming” therapists that it would, but when it didn’t end their mental anguish they were in even deeper despair (despite getting older). Finally getting decent, “exploratory” therapy helped them.
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I’m pleased counselor / therapist ‘A’ managed to repair the damage done by counselor / therapist ‘B’.
I specifically mention Simon because the therapeutic approach he took was Aaron Beck’s “Cognitive Therapy” which is quite cognitive and might surprise Art Deco and Chuck. Simon’s depression lifted quickly when he started applying Beck’s principles to his life.
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https://washingtoncenterforcognitivetherapy.com/the-center/
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I don’t think anyone would have been out on a limb calling this man on-the-level back in the day. I’d wager he still is on the level. If the talking cure is something in which you take an interest and you live within commuting distance, by all means call him. Just remember the talking cure is very hit-and-miss.
I may be unfair, but I have always regarded therapy, especially of the Freudian variety, as mostly politics and very little, if any, science. That impression wasn’t helped when I met people wishing to become therapists who had no understanding of other people and were equally clueless about themselves. They were remarkable in that regard, truly outliers.
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There are social perspectives promoted by purveyors of the talking cure, though not uniform ones. Psychoanalysis as a clinical practice imploded between 1975 and 1985. Charles Krauthammer remarking on it in 1984 noted that he had recently taken board certification examinations even though he’d ceased practicing. (He maintained a medical license to the end of his life). He said there wasn’t one question on the examination which made use of the term ‘neurosis’. When he’d done his residency, one of his objects was dodging the requirement that he undergo analysis. He’d done his residency from 1976 to 1979. Psychoanalysis evaporated that quickly. When I worked for the U of R Medical Center a generation ago, there was just one member of the psychiatry faculty who advertised his psychoanalytic training. That man was born in 1923 and died in 1996.
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It’s my impression nowadays that psychiatrists write prescriptions and take a periodic inventory of your state of mind (which means listening politely to your kvetching), but they don’t offer much of a talking cure. Clinical psychologists, counselors, and social workers offer that, FWIW.
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I’d have to agree with you that many people in the trade are making the world worse in one way or another.
Art Deco:
For the most part, the damage was done by these things: an education system that kept talking about gender as something one can choose, a social media that encouraged young people to think of themselves as trans, the porn industry that frightened young girls into thinking that they did not want to be women if degradation was the lot of women, and the medical profession that gave/approved the blockers and the hormones and the surgery.
The therapists initially involved with most of these kids merely “affirmed” what the kid was already saying – which is pretty pernicious and not what therapists should be doing, but was hardly the cause of the whole thing. To make matters even worse, in some states – California and I think Oregon and/or Washington – therapists are REQUIRED to affirm and not allowed to do what’s called “exploratory” (that is, regular) therapy.
So any later therapists who managed to help the person were certainly not just countering the damage caused by earlier therapists. They were countering damage caused by a huge interlocking system of which the earlier therapists were only a small part. If it wasn’t for the medical establishment, the whole thing would be reversible, at least. But because of the medical interventions, it often is not and irreversible physical damage is done.
For the most part, the damage was done by these things: an education system that kept talking about gender as something one can choose, a social media that encouraged young people to think of themselves as trans, the porn industry that frightened young girls into thinking that they did not want to be women if degradation was the lot of women, and the medical profession that gave/approved the blockers and the hormones and the surgery.
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The ‘system’ wasn’t talking about ‘gender’. Sick-o teachers and administrators may have been, though not in every case. ‘Social media’ understood corporatively has been attempting to shape public discussion, but the social media companies are not producing content and you don’t have to imbibe the content or pay much attention to it. ‘The medical profession’ wasn’t plying her with hormones or surgery. Sick-o physicians and surgeons were doing that (though apparatchiks like Carlos Mantilla are attempting to suppress any objections to it).
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That other actors may have played a part in this (teachers and school administrators) and others certainly did (physicians and surgeons) doesn’t excuse the garbage mental health tradesmen involved. Through it all are two people who apparently have no influence over her, or crapped out at some point, or promoted it a la the Muchausen mommy in I Am Jazz, her mother and father.
To make matters even worse, in some states – California and I think Oregon and/or Washington – therapists are REQUIRED to affirm and not allowed to do what’s called “exploratory” (that is, regular) therapy.
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If the practitioners in question are on-the-level, they’ll leave the state or go into a different line of work or just tell the apparatchiks ‘bring it on, trash’.
Art Deco:
Some practitioners have indeed left the state or even left the profession. That means that the ones who remain – and definitely the ones who work in so-called “gender clinics” or who bill themselves as “gender therapists,” are the true believers who only affirm.
For a long time, parents did not understand the game and took their kids to gender therapists, not realizing all they would do was “affirm.” Now I’m hoping that parents are much more aware of the situation.
Art Deco:
Of course the system itself wasn’t talking. I quite obviously meant the people trained in that system of thought, who had bought into the philosophy that went with it, were the ones doing the talking.
Same for social media. Of course it’s the people who use social media who create content. However, the people running the companies were censoring dissenting views for the most part. That meant that many other voices who were not in line with the trans-kid agenda were not heard very much on social media, and minors going to social media to get information and read conversations got a false impression of “everything will be great once you transition.”
Nor am I excusing therapists, who had a role as well. But for the rank-and-file therapists it was mostly as a rubber-stamp, to talk briefly to the person and then to send them on their way with a letter recommending medical treatment. From there, the doctors and nurses took over, and they were responsible for giving the go-ahead to the more pernicious and often-irreversible treatments. Some more prominent therapists had a bigger role, in that they generated some of the philosophical and supposedly-clinical underpinnings of the movement.
As for parents, the Jennings family was very destructive to their child’s well-being, in my opinion. They are very high profile, but there are others like them. However, most parents involved in this are not of that ilk. Most are more reluctant and confused, and acquiesce because they are coerced by doctors and therapists into believing their child has a very high likelihood of committing suicide if the parents don’t give consent for medical treatment with blockers and hormones and surgery.
I have taken the liberty of copying those insights and emailing them to my address list, because I believe they could be helpful to some.
Oldflyer:
By all means. I did write in no small hope that what I said might reach a few who could benefit.
I don’t claim the final word on depression, but IMO for many, if not the majority, of people, depression can be the result of using the brain and body poorly.
I found CBT very useful after my youthful divorce. It makes the client the master of her soul, so to speak, rather than the victim of outside circumstances. It teaches that our feelings are just feelings but we have agency over our actions, and given time and the feedback we receive from acting in healthy ways even if we don’t feel like doing so, our feelings can change to reflect more accurately what is really happening in our lives.
I was divorced at 23 and felt that my life was over – that I was as worthless as my ex-husband had told me I was, would never again find someone who would love me and whom I could love, would never amount to anything. My therapist helped me take control of how I was perceiving these feelings and how I acted in the real world – so that, for instance, I didn’t become either a hermit or a slut. I was in weekly therapy for about a year, IIRC, and found it incredibly enlivening to come in talking about my “failures” and have her help me examine my life as if seeing it from the outside. When I used my mind instead of my feelings, I could see that my “failures” (like arguing with a new boyfriend about boundaries, for instance, or not being able to afford a full tank of gas because I was putting myself through college for a second degree) were productive steps on the path toward an interesting career and a healthy and supportive relationship.
Two thumbs up. Like. Would recommend.
I found CBT [Cognitive Behavioral Therapy] very useful after my youthful divorce. It makes the client the master of her soul, so to speak, rather than the victim of outside circumstances.
Jamie:
Excellent! Thanks for your account. That movement from being a victim to being an agent is crucial.
Aside from my political disagreements with leftists, I find their non-stop focus, on making one’s victimization the meaning of one’s life, to be pure poison for mental health.
Well well well. I just thought the social wokers were picking on me during the divorce.
Now everyone can enjoy it!