Alameda County to Accept Care Court Petitions This November; Officials Outline services, housing and a $5.6 million behavioral-health cost

Alameda County officials and the presiding Superior Court judge briefed the Board's joint Health and Public Protection Committee on plans to implement California's new Care Court this winter, saying the county will begin accepting petitions Nov. 28 and has contracted a community provider to run outreach and assessment services.

"We will be accepting petitions on November 28," Dr. Karen Tribble, the county'behavioral health department director, told the supervisors during the Oct. 24 joint meeting. She said Bay Area Community Services (BACS) won the county'procurement to provide outreach, assessment and a full-service partnership and is in a startup phase meeting regularly with the department.

The Care Act establishes a civil court process intended to get people with severe mental illness engaged in services through a court-ordered or voluntarily negotiated care agreement that lasts up to 12 months, with a possible 12-month extension. An Indigo Project consultant explained that petitioners can include the person, family members, hospitals, first responders or the county behavioral-health agency, and that recent statutory changes let petitioners submit sworn declarations in place of two recent 5150 documents to trigger an eligibility assessment.

"Bay Area Community Services was the successful bidder," the presenter said, describing the agency'county partnership that will develop care agreements in collaboration with the court and the public defender''a collaborative process described in the presentation and by Dr. Tribble.

Presiding Judge Sandy Bean, who is assigned to the Care Court calendar, said the court will review petitions quickly. "I will be reviewing that, what we like to say, forthwith or within 48 hours," she told supervisors, adding that once she makes a prima facie determination the behavioral-health department will be ordered to conduct an eligibility assessment.

County officials and the court gave differing but overlapping dates for the earliest hearings: the county presentation listed an initial calendar target of Dec. 12, 2024, while the judge told the group the first court hearing date would be Dec. 14; both speakers said petitions would be accepted electronically beginning Nov. 28.

Officials described the on-the-ground process: after a petition is filed and the judge orders an assessment, outreach teams will attempt to locate and engage the person; assessments now have up to 30 days (amended from 14 days) to be completed, and outreach can take weeks to months as teams try to build trust and reach voluntary agreements before any court-ordered plan is imposed.

Care Court participants will be prioritized for bridge-housing and supportive services, officials said. The county described interim shelters with on-site staffing, a limited hotel-motel voucher program (about 15 people per month with an average 14-night stay), three planned board-and-care facilities totaling about 40 beds, a forensic peer respite expected in February 2025, and 55 ongoing rental-assistance vouchers for households at risk of losing housing.

The county also outlined data and reporting expectations. Dr. Tribble said Care Court mandates monthly reporting to the state for each petitioned person and that the county will track referrals, voluntary-versus-ordered participation and timeliness. "The legislation is rich on data requirements and analytics," she said.

On costs, Vanessa Baker, deputy director of plan administration, said the county'behavioral-health portion of implementation is budgeted at about $5.6 million and that the county received $1 million in state implementation funding. Baker described the Care Act as an "unfunded mandate" for ongoing operations and said the county will rely on existing resources and MHSA-to-BHSA funding transitions; Dr. Tribble later said there is roughly a $1.2 million gap the county is assessing.

Supervisors and stakeholders raised recurring concerns about workforce capacity, court resources and access to help filing petitions. Judge Bean said the court'run self-help center will provide appointments, drop-in options, email and virtual access but has not received additional staff from recent budget cuts; the court plans a dedicated care-act web page and materials. County leaders said behavioral-health teams will work with the self-help center and with community partners to reach people in multiple languages and formats.

Public comment emphasized both the potential and limits of the program. Allison Monroe of Families Advocating for the Seriously Mentally Ill said family petition rights are "priceless" but warned that Care Court "will not serve everybody," describing the difficulty of locating and sustaining engagement for some people and urging realistic expectations of what voluntary engagement can achieve.

Officials closed by saying they will continue stakeholder outreach and training and that the county board can set the cadence for implementation updates; several supervisors asked for an early follow-up report after launch to assess capacity, outcomes and any additional funding needs.

What happens next: Alameda County will begin accepting petitions Nov. 28 (e-filing available), the county'court and behavioral-health teams expect initial hearings in mid-December and officials have asked to return to the board with data and operational updates as implementation unfolds.