A law requiring parental consent for almost any medical treatment provided to minors went into effect in Idaho in July 2024, and it has been hampering children’s access to care in unintended ways.

One of the affected entities is the Idaho 988 Crisis and Suicide Hotline.

Some of those young people can’t move forward in their call without a parent giving permission.

Sometimes, a parent or guardian can get on the phone, according to Idaho 988 Director Lee Flinn, “but in most situations, the minor hangs up because they tell us they feel like they can’t do that.”

“We really do want and hope that minors have a parent or two parents that support them, but one of the things that we hear sometimes is that they don’t have a parent they can talk to,” Flinn said.

Mental health resources from The

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