CCHR to Parents: Know Your Rights Before Psychiatric Drugging or Hospitalization

In a stark warning to families, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is urging parents and caregivers to seek independent facts before accepting any recommendation for psychotropic drugs or psychiatric hospitalization for a child. The organization, a mental health industry watchdog founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz, says families are often pressured by school mental health workers or hospitals and receive incomplete risk information. CCHR directs families to FightForKids.org, a campaign that helped produce the federal Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment, which bars schools from forcing parents to medicate a child as a condition of attending class. Similar parental-rights laws have been enacted in 10 states.

Central to CCHR's message is the Parents Know Your Rights page, which explains that psychiatric diagnoses are made without confirmatory medical tests and advises parents to insist on a full medical workup before distress is labeled mental illness. CCHR also warns against companies that forcibly transport teens to residential treatment facilities and wilderness camps, costing families thousands of dollars. According to CCHR, about 40,000 children sit in U.S. behavioral facilities, a market valued at $92.14 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $132.46 billion by 2032. The group cites research showing that up to 45% of inpatient psychiatric patients reported sexual violence during admission, and a 77% rise in hospital assault incidents over two years. CCHR recommends parents use legal rights first, prefer educational and medical solutions, demand lab work, refuse nighttime extractions, and report suspected abuse to police immediately. Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, stated, "Parents cannot rely on the facility to police itself. Get the facts first. Then use the law."