New State Bills Would Allow Unaccompanied Youths Health Care Access

Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 -- 11:00 AM

(Natalie Eilbert, Green Bay Press-Gazette) A homeless Wisconsin youth needs a broken arm set.

An abandoned Wisconsin youth needs mental health treatment. An estranged Wisconsin youth needs a chipped tooth fixed. Can any of them receive treatment? Under Wisconsin law, the answer is no, not without the consent of a parent, who may be incarcerated, deceased or permanently out of touch, according to Natalie Eilbert with the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Young people in Wisconsin do not have the right to their own health care unless they have written consent from a parent or legal guardian. Wisconsin is one of 15 states without any laws granting unaccompanied youths health care access.

Now, Senate Bill 704 and its companion, Assembly Bill 729, would allow unaccompanied minors to consent to and receive medical, dental and behavioral health care access without a parent or legal guardian's permission.

The bills are guided by youth action boards across nearly every Wisconsin county, and were developed specifically to meet the needs of unaccompanied minors defined under federal law.

The unaccompanied minor must be at least 14 years old to consent to medical care and must not be under the supervision of a county department of human services or social services, a licensed child welfare agency, the state Department of Children and Families, or the state Department of Corrections.

Last year, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin drew widespread attention to the problem, telling the story of an unaccompanied minor who had to rely on her abusive father's signature to obtain any kind of medical assistance.

Her story, and what more than 2,000 other unaccompanied Wisconsin youths are currently up against, has since been used in educational settings by Joli Guenther, the executive director of Wisconsin Association of Homeless and Runaway Services.

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