Can We Get Counselor's Records?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. BM has been sending 4 year old SS to a counselor. She claims he needs it because of "the changes in his father's household" (which means me living there)and because we have said and done "adult" things in front of SS. BF talked to counselor and she said that 4 year old has never said anything to her that she is going by what BM said 4 year old told BM. She said from talking to SS she felt that he had a good relationship with his father. BF believes that it is more the BM that the counselor is counseling then the 4 year old. But it is being billed to his insurance as counseling for 4 year old. Since BF has joint legal custody can we get copies of the records for his son from the counselor? Will the couselor put up a fight over releasing them?
You betcha!
I don't know if it is any different in your state than it is in ours, but we had no problems getting these records for my husband's children. My husband just sent a letter to the therapist requesting the records and included a copy of the birth certificate (with his name on it), a copy of his driver's license (with his signature on it) and the signed letter requesting the records. There was no problem. If he has joint custody and it's being billed to his insurance, he has every legal right to view the records. You may have to pay a copying charge, but it probably won't be much. If the office is local, then just have him call and ask. He can probably just stop by and pick them up.
~ Anne ~
Good Info
I was hoping to find out that we probably could....we need to do the same thing. We just found out that she was taking him to a counselor in addition to the one he see's now. We are concerned by this only because we want him to be on the same page as the counselor he currently see's. It's her (BM ie...coo coo woman's) counselor.
heather
Like Anne says, you should be able to...
if you do get hassled, you can have them subpoenaed by a judge. That however, requires more court proceedings. But it can be done.
Records hassle
Something that works, too, is if they don't want to give you access to the records, then you just say, "Could I please have the name, address and phone number of your legal representative?" When they ask why, you tell them that they are denying you your legal right to your child's records under HIPAA, as well as state law, and that you just need to know who to subpoena when you sue them. If they still don't give you the records, then do call their legal representative, explain your problem and they may be able to help you. Sometimes you have to go up the chain of command. We had this problem getting some prescription records from the pharmacy and when the pharmacist wouldn't release the records, we asked for the name of the pharmacy's legal representative. That person notified the pharmacist that hubby had a right to the records and we got them shortly thereafter.
~ Anne ~