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Court rollout of CARE Act: Chief Justice reports 1,258 petitions and 2,092 hearings
Summary
Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said all 58 counties have implemented the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act; she gave counts of petitions and hearings and described the program as coordinating mental health treatment and housing services for people with psychotic disorders.
Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero told a joint session of the California Legislature that all 58 counties have implemented the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act designed to coordinate civil-court pathways to mental health treatment, housing support and related services for people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
Guerrero said that as of Feb. 21 the courts had received 1,258 CARE Act petitions and held 2,092 hearings. She described the numbers as improving and said the metrics understate the human impact of the program, noting that some people who are not eligible for CARE receive referrals to other services through collaborative justice court arrangements.
The chief justice framed CARE as part of a “holistic” approach to help people experiencing homelessness and repeated incarceration without treatment. She credited collaboration between the courts and the California Health and Human Services Agency in delivering services under the civil-care pathway created by the act.
Guerrero said the CARE Act has yielded “significant improvement” in assisting Californians with mental health issues and emphasized the courts’ role in coordinating public services, including referrals through collaborative justice courts.
