[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14329]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              HELPING FAMILIES IN MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS ACT

  (Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, over the last few years, I 
have met with thousands of families of those with mental illness. Their 
number one concern is how the current system shuts them out.
  Debbie and Chaz Mahoney lost their son Chuckie to suicide in 2002. 
Although Chuckie sought counseling from his college and showed signs of 
mental crisis, his parents knew nothing about his struggle. The Family 
Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also known as FERPA, kept Chuckie's 
parents in the dark.
  The Mahoneys aren't alone. Each day, millions of families experience 
the same tragic frustration. Schools will be sure to remind you when 
the tuition check arrives, but because of FERPA, when it comes to your 
child's mental health, you only receive a call when it is too, too 
late.
  This Suicide Prevention Month, Congress can fix this problem. The 
Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act allows doctors to provide 
limited, but crucial, information concerning individuals with a serious 
mental illness to known caregivers. To save their lives and protect 
their rights to treatment, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2646.

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