On Sept. 1 2025, Senate Bill 12 officially took effect. With this law came various changes in public Texas high schools, particularly regarding health services. Falling under this “health service” umbrella? Counseling. New counselor changes were made to help promote parent collaboration. All counselors are now required to get parent permission whenever they want to conduct a suicide or self-harm risk screening.
Cy Woods counselor,Kyle Critton says whenever a counselor wants to conduct these screenings, they will always call the parent first.
“And then once permission is granted, just so the parent has an electronic copy, [we] send it by email,” Critton said.
According to a district SB 12 FAQ document obtained in a public records request, if a counselor is unable to get into contact with a child’s parent, they will keep trying to contact the parent regardless if they answer or not. If all else fails, counselors must resort to using emergency contacts.
If permission is declined by the parent, then counselors will recommend additional resources like outside counseling.
“It just depends on the level of care that it seems like the student needs,” Critton said.
However, as stated by the FAQ document, if students are 18 years or older, then they have the right to consent to their own screening. But even then, parents will still have access to educational records. Consent for the screenings remains pivotal, as the document states: “Consent must be obtained each time.”
Some changes may not be as new as many individuals thought them to be. Prior to SB 12 coming into effect, if a child were in danger of directly harming themselves, informing a guardian was still a procedure that had to be followed.
Critton explained that this is most commonly due to the sense of uncertainty in these situations.
“The fear is typically that the child doesn’t know how to create the conversation,” Critton said.
Critton believes the new policies come from a neutral standpoint.
“What we wanted to do is collaborate with parents,” Critton said.
When students themselves were asked for their opinion on the counseling changes, there were mixed feelings.
Sophomore Lilah Perry, said, “I think it’s good that the counselors remind or involve parents if the student is at risk, but I do think the counselors should be able to talk to the students and reassure them and ask questions before alerting the parents.”
Perry said that it’s beneficial to have the kids have someone to talk to no matter if the parents want them to or not.
“And, if they’re not able to talk to an adult who is a professional in the field, then they’ll go to their friends and their friends might be a bad influence, or they might backtrack and it could get worse,” Perry said.
After being notified about these changes, Perry said she wouldn’t want to go to the counselor if she was experiencing these mental health risks.
“I would feel like I could put pressure on my family and make them feel bad, or I would feel like I didn’t have trust in the counselor when that’s supposed to be their job,” Perry said.
Perry agrees that it’s important for parents to be involved because no one wants to lose a child or a family member.
“However, if students don’t feel trust in the counselor or whoever they’re communicating with to not tell their parents every single detail or tell other people’s details, then it’ll be harder for them to come out and say their trust feelings,” Perry said. “They might just mask what they’re actually feeling.”
