2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART VIII - Mental Health (§§ 4001-6151 — 6184) › Chapter 201A - Mental Health Code of 2000 (§§ 6152 — 6166g) › Subchapter VIII - Mental Health Care System for Minors (§§ 6159 — 6159y) › § 6159j - Request for placement

Any minor, through his/her parent with legal or physical custody, his/her legal guardian, or surrogate parent, may tender a request for placement at an institutional provider for treatment, recovery and rehabilitation as pertains to a mental disorder. The request shall be made in writing and may be accompanied by a referral from a child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychiatrist, physician, psychologist, social worker, professional counselor, or any healthcare professional with experience in the mental healthcare field.
This referral shall be issued insofar as a preliminary evaluation has been conducted by a mental healthcare professional. In the event that the request is made for detoxification services, the preliminary evaluation and the referral shall be made by a physician or a psychiatrist. Professionals responsible for this referral shall make a written assessment as to whether the minor meets the criteria for placement for this service modality as established by this chapter. Within twenty-four (24) hours after the request for hospital services is tendered, an inter- or multidisciplinary team shall be assigned to the minor, including a child and adolescent psychiatrist, to evaluate such minor so as to determine whether or not placement is in order.
If the need for hospitalization should be ascertained, the inter- or multidisciplinary team shall be responsible for drafting a treatment plan for the minor. Said plan shall establish the strategies to be followed to manage the immediate cause that gave rise to the hospitalization. If it should be found that the minor meets the criteria to receive services in a level of care with autonomy greater than that accorded by hospitalization, the minor shall be referred to the mental health level of care that best suits his/her individual needs.
The lack of interest or the inability of the parent with legal or physical custody, the legal guardian, or the person with physical custody or the duty to provide care or shelter, shall not constitute grounds for having a minor institutionalized in a mental healthcare hospital. If this should be the case, the director of the institution shall file a petition with the court to secure care and protection at other public or private institutions, as the case may be.
Within twenty-four (24) hours after a minor has been institutionalized in a hospital institutional provider, the director or his/her representative shall furnish a copy of the request for services and prepare a clear and concise report explaining the minor’s condition to his/her parent with legal or physical custody, legal guardian, or surrogate parent, as well as provide information regarding:
(a) The preliminary diagnosis determined by the inter- or multidisciplinary team;
(b) the right they have to request that the minor be released within the shortest term possible, except in those cases in which during said term, a petition is filed with the court accompanied by a certification that establishes that minor should be subject to involuntary admission, and
(c) the treatment, recovery and rehabilitation plan to be followed, and the right to receive counseling and a hearing held in court.
After being institutionalized, any change in status shall be explained in detail to the minor and to his/her parent with legal or physical custody or legal guardian.
History —Oct. 2, 2000, No. 408, § 8.11; Aug. 6, 2008, No. 183, § 45.