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The number of Florida children being Baker Acted is on the rise according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In the 2018-19 fiscal year alone, more than 37,800 children were Baker Acted.

The rate of Baker Acts has more than doubled over the past two decades and Bacardi Jackson with the Southern Poverty Law Center said black students are even more at risk of being involuntary committed to a psychiatric facility.

“Some of these children are as young as five and six years old. Many have developmental disabilities and a disproportionate number of them, as we see in most of our negative circumstances, are black and brown. So we have effectively created a second pipeline to push out and police our most vulnerable children and put them at greater risk of harm,” said Jackson.

The SPLC report made recommendations to overhaul the Baker Act law by requiring mental health professionals to have the final say on initiating a Baker Act, not law enforcement.

It also called for better reporting and collection of statistics, along with better educating school staff and other stake holders of the traumatic effects of inappropriately Baker Acting children.