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Can this minor consent to therapy? Twelve, your opinion, and then four rules.
In California a minor of 12 or older may consent to outpatient therapy if, in the treating professional’s opinion, they are mature enough to participate intelligently. Two sections say it, one is switched off for Medi-Cal, and four rules follow from the consent: the parent is involved unless you decide otherwise and record why, the parent is not liable for the fee unless they join, the parent has no right to the record, and a trainee tells the supervisor within 24 hours. Answer five questions; the page states the section and the rules that apply.
The five questions →The five questions
Age, your standing, your opinion, who pays, and the parent.
The sections turn on facts you already have and two opinions only you can form. This page does not form them: whether a particular minor is mature enough, and whether involving a parent would be inappropriate, are the treating professional’s judgments. It states what each section then requires.
The sections
Two consent sections, one switch, and three that follow.
“Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a minor who is 12 years of age or older may consent to mental health treatment or counseling services if, in the opinion of the attending professional person, the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in the mental health treatment or counseling services.” (b)(1). The parent-involvement rule and the record it requires in (c); the parent’s non-liability for the fee in (d); no convulsive treatment, psychosurgery or psychotropic drugs without parental consent in (e); the trainee’s 24-hour supervisor notice in (b)(2).
“Section 124260 of the Health and Safety Code shall not apply to the receipt of benefits under the Medi-Cal program.” One sentence, added by SB 543 in 2010. For a Medi-Cal client the consent comes from the Family Code instead.
“A minor who is 12 years of age or older may consent to mental health treatment or counseling on an outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, if the minor, in the opinion of the attending professional person, is mature enough to participate intelligently in the outpatient services or residential shelter services.” (b). Before AB 665 this section also required that the minor be a danger to self or others or an alleged victim of incest or child abuse; the bill removed that, and its findings say why: services under 124260 “cannot be billed to Medi-Cal”, so the two standards left low-income minors with a harder test. Parent involvement in (d), payment in (e), the exclusions in (f).
“The representative of a minor shall not be entitled to inspect or obtain copies of the minor’s patient records, including clinical notes … when records relate to services described in Section 6924 … or Section … 124260 … when obtained by a patient who has the mental capacity to provide consent and is at or above the minimum age for consenting to the service.” (a)(3). Subdivision (a)(2) separately lets the provider refuse a representative where access would harm the relationship or the minor.
A minor who can consent without a parent is a “protected individual” and mental health care is a “sensitive service” (Civ. Code §56.05). A plan or insurer “shall not require a protected individual to obtain the policyholder … authorization to receive sensitive services or to submit a claim for sensitive services if the protected individual has the right to consent to care”, directs bills, explanations of benefits and claim notices to the protected individual, and implements a confidential-communication request within 7 calendar days (electronic or telephone) or 14 (mail). Civ. Code §56.107(a),(b) for health care service plans; Ins. Code §791.29 for insurers.
Then what
The duties that arrive with a minor client.
The clocks
The mandated-reporting deadline calculator
The child-abuse telephone report and 36-hour written follow-up, and the trainee’s 24 hours, from the moment you learned it.
The file
Client records in California
Seven years from the client’s 18th birthday, not from the last session; what a client may see and how fast.
By video
The telehealth consent generator
The consent and per-session record 16 CCR §1815.5 requires; the client’s location every session.
Before the first session
The pre-licensed client disclosure generator
What an associate or trainee tells every client before treatment, in the statutes’ words.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
The consent sections
- Health and Safety Code §124260, mental health services for minors (leginfo, read 5 September 2026)
- Family Code §6924, mental health treatment of minors, as repealed and added by AB 665, operative 1 July 2024
- Welfare and Institutions Code §14029.8: §124260 does not apply to Medi-Cal benefits
- AB 665 (Stats. 2023, ch. 338), text and Legislative Counsel’s Digest; findings (k) and (l) on Medi-Cal billing
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Statutes and Regulations (the compilation carrying 124260, 14029.8 and 6924)
The record and the claim
- Health and Safety Code §123115(a)(3), a minor’s representative and records of consented services
- Civil Code §56.05, “protected individual” and “sensitive services”
- Civil Code §56.107, health care service plans: claims, communications and confidential-communication requests
- Insurance Code §791.29, the same duties for health insurers
The page applies the sections’ conditions to the answers given; it does not form the maturity opinion or the parent-involvement judgment the sections leave to the treating professional, and it covers outpatient mental health treatment or counseling only. Nothing typed is stored or sent.
