Idaho’s parental consent law impedes 988 suicide crisis hotline access for some youth

This article was originally published by Idaho Capital Sun.

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. 

More than 1,500 Idahoans between the ages of 5 and 17 contacted the hotline between when the parental consent law went into effect on July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, according to data provided by the Idaho 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. 

She emphasized that the hotline still accepts calls from anyone, and encourages people of any age to call, text or chat online if they are in crisis. 

Definition of Emergency Can Complicate How Idaho Hotline Staff Handle Call From Minor

The law, Senate Bill 1329, passed in 2024, requires that a provider receive consent from a parent or legal custodian to perform any “health care service,” which is defined as “for the diagnosis, screening, examination, prevention, treatment, cure, care, or relief of any physical or mental health condition, illness, injury, defect, or disease.” 

Providers do not need parental consent if they’ve been given blanket consent by a parent already or the provider “reasonably determines that a medical emergency exists and furnishing the health care service is necessary to prevent death or imminent, irreparable physical injury to the minor child.” 

Lee said many of the calls received by hotline staff members are “really serious, they are in crisis,” but the situation doesn’t meet the high bar defined in the law. 

The law has also impeded the hotline’s ability to follow-up with young people, which is considered a best practice regardless of the severity of the situation, she said. 

“If a teenager tells us they are suicidal but they’re not at imminent risk, meaning they may not have a plan, they may not have access to lethal means, they’re still feeling suicidal and it is best practice … to offer a follow up call the next day within 24 hours,” Flinn said. “And we’re not able to offer that follow up call or support to minors because of this law.”

If there is imminent risk determined, the call will continue and the responder will try to ensure the minor’s safety, she said. 

Alexander Copple, who worked at the hotline as a responder as part of a master’s of social work internship between July 2024 and May, 2025, said the law made it difficult to do what he felt was right. 

“We can hear a little bit, and then we would basically say, ‘we can’t continue the conversation  unless you have a parent there who can give consent,’ and then we’d have to end the call,” Copple said. “And we have no way of knowing or following up to know if there was any help or support that was received.” 

Flinn said young people can call for a variety of reasons, often stemming from a difficulty managing strong emotions related to bullying, their relation with their parents, pressure to succeed, or a breakup. 

“A young person’s brain is not fully developed into their 20s, so when a young person is in crisis, it’s important to remember that they can be very impulsive sometimes, so the best support that any of us can provide a young person, early on in the crisis, is best.” 

Idaho Lawmakers Say They Intend to Try Again to Clarify the Law

The bill sponsors, Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, and Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon, R-Rupert, were aware of other ways the law was impeding access to care, and Anthon during the 2025 legislative session proposed a bill to clarify language in it, but the bill did not advance in the House. 

Ehardt told the Idaho Capital Sun on Wednesday that she hadn’t heard of the law’s impact on the hotline. 

“The one thing I’ve said from the beginning, is that we wanted to keep an an eye on things pertaining to suicide,” Ehardt said. “… I think that’s worth looking at.” 

Anthon’s bill proposed this year would have created a specific exception for the 988 hotline, allowing for services without parental consent if the child is “is accessing the services of the Idaho crisis and suicide hotline or experiencing a mental health crisis and presents an imminent risk of serious injury to self or others.” 

The law as it’s written had also caused problems for those providing sexual assault exams on young people under 18. Under the law, a health worker would need to get consent from a parent to do the exam, but in some cases the perpetrator of the assault may be that parent or another family member, Idaho Reports previously reported. 

The law also gained national attention when the Washington Post reported on a 13-year-old pregnant girl from McCall who could consent to her baby’s care but not her own. 

The law came up at a recent legislative Child Custody and Domestic Relations Task Force meeting, during which advocates disagreed as to whether the law, as written, hampered abuse investigations and treatment, the Sun reported. 

Before the passage of Senate Bill 1329, teenagers 14 and older could seek contraception or other family planning services outside of abortion, treatment and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and inpatient care for mental health, the Idaho Press reported. Those 16 and older may consent to treatment or rehabilitation for substance abuse.

Children’s advocates at the time of the bill’s passage expressed concern it would have a “chilling effect” on young people’s access to health care, the Idaho Press reported. 

Ehard’t seatmate, fellow Idaho Falls Republican Marco Erickson, had originally raised concerns about the impact on crisis and suicide centers when the bill was introduced in 2024. Erickson is a program director at Community Youth in Action, which works toward substance abuse and suicide prevention. 

He told the Sun that he had heard the bill had been impacting services at the hotline, and he’s been advocating for those who are affected to bring potential solutions to the bill sponsors. 

Erickson did not sponsor the bill, and although he expressed concerns about the mental health aspect of the bill, he voted for it on the floor. 

“I’m just, in good faith, hoping they take care of it,” he said. “… (Ehardt) assured me that these issues would be addressed.”

Ehardt has said she believes the law has been “misconstrued” and overly broadly interpreted in a way that doesn’t allow for some basic services to be provided, such as a Band-Aid at school, but said she’s open to trying to clarify it. 

The bill last year passed the Senate but never went anywhere in the House. Ehardt said it came too late in the session. She hopes to have a bill ready early in the 2026 session. 

“Some of those things are being worked on as we speak,” she said.