Consent Form May Preserve Drug Program : Schools: The Saddleback Valley district threatened to end the state-funded student counseling but a compromise requiring parental approval may have spared the service.

A parental permission form may save an alcohol and drug counseling program for high school students that became mired in a controversy over family planning and abortion.

The state-funded campus program came under fire when Saddleback Valley Unified School District board members learned students could get Medi-Cal cards making them eligible for medical services such as abortion without parental approval.

Under a proposed compromise with state health officials that was unveiled Monday night, students would be required to get parental approval to leave class for the alcohol and drug counseling program.

Significantly, parents would also be notified that because the program is funded through Medi-Cal, their children might be eligible to seek confidential birth control counseling and other medical services.

Students, however, would still be able to request any of the services available to them through the Medi-Cal Minor Consent program without parental permission.

After months of negotiations, state Department of Health Services officials agreed that the district can request parental permission for their child to be excused from class for the confidential program, Supt. Peter A. Hartman said.

“We’ve always supported the program,” Hartman said. “What we were concerned about was that parents were fully informed. We believe the parents have a right to be fully informed about programs like this that might involve their children.”

District officials presented the proposal to the school board Monday night, and it appeared to have support of a board majority. A final vote is set for Sept. 14.

“This is such a wonderful program and it’s so desperately needed,” said Carol Lerman, the district guidance specialist. “It makes me very, very happy to see it going in this direction.”

To pay for the counseling program, which is administered through the Orange County Health Care Agency, students would sign up for Medi-Cal coverage each month on campus.

Last year, about 100 students in the Saddleback district participated in program while 36 school campuses throughout the county offered the counseling program.

Under the 15-year-old state Medi-Cal Minor Consent program, youths starting at age 12 are entitled to receive free or low-cost confidential treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, family planning and sexual assault.

Although district officials say most students used their Medi-Cal eligibility only for alcohol and drug counseling, and rarely even requested a Medi-Cal card, board members said parents needed more authority over what type of services their children were being provided.

Board President Bobbee Cline, and board members Marcia Birch and Dore Gilbert believe the compromise is a good one.

“I think we’re giving parents notification they did not have before,” Birch said. “We’re giving them a choice. Beyond that, there’s not much more a family can ask of us.”

Board members Frank Ury and Debbie Hughes did not say how they’d vote on the proposal, although both raised concerns that were not resolved during the debate late Monday.

In April, the Health Care Agency canceled the program for Saddleback students several months after district administrators asked it to stop signing up students for Medi-Cal on campus unless the coverage was limited to alcohol and drug counseling.

However, state officials said such a limitation on the coverage violated the Minor Consent program.

The program eventually faltered because many students were unable to obtain transportation to a south Orange County Medi-Cal office to fill out the monthly forms for continued eligibility.

As a result, Saddleback’s student enrollment in Medi-Cal declined, causing the county to lose about $50,000 in state funding for the program.

The district later came up with $15,300 to revive the counseling services under its own terms for the remainder of the school year. Past budget cuts have left the district without its own counselors to provide such a service.