Senators Press State, Counties on Early CARE Court Results as Families Describe Gaps in Housing and Services

A joint California State Senate Judiciary and Health committee hearing at the Orange County Superior Court on the implementation of the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court focused Tuesday on what the first year of the program has achieved and where it is falling short.

Senators and witnesses stressed that CARE Court was designed to connect people with schizophrenia-spectrum and similar psychotic disorders to housing, behavioral health professionals and coordinated services. "Care Court…provides stability, provides behavioral health professional support, and also, provides for housing," said Senator Umberg, one of the hearing's chairs, summarizing the policy's original goals.

State health officials told the committees that early indicators show both progress and important gaps. Stephanie Welch, deputy secretary for behavioral health, said that as of Sept. 30 there were 2,873 petitions and that the state is also tracking more than 3,000 diversions into programming without court involvement. Ivan Bhardwaj of the Department of Health Care Services said the department has deployed $57 million in start-up funds, provided training to more than 3,000 people and built new data systems; he…