6552. (Amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 948, Sec. 61.)
A minor who has been declared to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court may, with the advice of counsel, make voluntary application for inpatient or outpatient mental health services in accordance with Section 5003. Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 6000, Section 6002, or Section 6004, the juvenile court may authorize the minor to make the application if it is satisfied from the evidence before it that the minor is experiencing a mental disorder that may reasonably be expected to be cured or ameliorated by a course of treatment offered by the hospital, facility, or program in which the minor wishes to be placed, and that there is no other available hospital, program, or facility that might better serve the minor’s medical needs and best interest. The superintendent or person in charge of any state, county, or other hospital facility or program may then receive the minor as a voluntary patient. Applications and placements under this section shall be subject to the provisions and requirements of the Short-Doyle Act (Part 2 (commencing with Section 5600) of Division 5), which are generally applicable to voluntary admissions. The juvenile court shall review the application for judicial authorization of the voluntary application for admission to a psychiatric residential treatment facility pursuant to Section 361.23 or 727.13, as applicable. If the minor is accepted as a voluntary patient, the juvenile court may issue an order to the minor and to the person in charge of the hospital, facility, or program in which the minor is to be placed that should the minor leave or demand to leave the care or custody thereof prior to the time they are discharged by the superintendent or person in charge, they shall be returned forthwith to the juvenile court for a further dispositional hearing pursuant to the juvenile court law. The provisions of this section shall continue to apply to the minor until the termination or expiration of the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.