Can teenagers give consent?

Teenagers 16 and over can give consent for medical treatment. 

14 and 15 year olds are entitled to give consent provided two doctors agree that they are functioning at a level of an ordinary 16 year old. As a rule of thumb, where there are significant mental health issues we can assume that the 14 and 15 year old is not functioning at the level of an ordinary 16 year old.

Children of any age might express concerns about their parents knowing about medical or mental health issues.  This concern needs to be taken seriously.  Children will often say something like

‘My father would kill me if he knew’. 

Most often this is not true, and the approach is to try to work with the young person to get their agreement to involve parents. 

However, just occasionally children are correct in their claims that giving information to parents would involve putting them at risk.  In such cases instead of contacting the parents a notification should be made to Families SA (Child Abuse Report Line 131478).