HSC - Item 3A - Attachment DGOVERNOR NEWSOM’S NEW PLAN TO GET CALIFORNIANS IN CRISISOFF THE STREETS AND INTO HOUSING, TREATMENT, AND CARE
●Community Assistance,Recovery and Empowerment (CARE)Court is a new framework to get
people with mental health and substance use disorders the support and care they need.
●CARE Court is aimed at helping the thousands of Californians who are suffering from untreated
mental health and substance use disorders leading to homelessness, incarceration or worse.
●California is taking a new approach to act early and get people the support they need and address
underlying needs - and we’re going to do it without taking away people’s rights.
●CARE Court includes accountability for everyone –on the individual and on local governments –
with court orders for services.
HOW CARE COURT WORKS
CARE Court connects a person struggling with untreated mental illness –and often also substance use
challenges –with a court-ordered Care Plan for up to 24 months.Each plan is managed by a care team in the
community and can include clinically prescribed,individualized interventions with several supportive services,
medication,and a housing plan.The client-centered approach also includes a public defender and supporter
to help make self-directed care decisions in addition to their full clinical team
CARE Court is designed on the evidence that many people can stabilize,begin healing,and exit homelessness
in less restrictive,community-based care settings.It's a long-term strategy to positively impact the individual in
care and the community around them.The plan focuses on people with schizophrenia spectrum and other
psychotic disorders,who may also have substance use challenges,and who lack medical decision-making
capacity and advances an upstream diversion from more restrictive conservatorships or incarceration.
The court-ordered response can be initiated by family,county and community-based social services,
behavioral health providers,or first responders.Individuals exiting a short-term involuntary hospital hold or an
arrest may be especially good candidates for CARE Court.The Care Plan can be ordered for up to 12 months,
with periodic review hearings and subsequent renewal for up to another 12 months.Participants who do not
successfully complete Care Plans may,under current law,be hospitalized or referred to conservatorship -with a
new presumption that no suitable alternatives to conservatorship are available.
All counties across the state will participate in CARE Court under the proposal.If local governments do not
meet their specified duties under court-ordered Care Plans,the court will have the ability to order sanctions
and, in extreme cases, appoint an agent to ensure services are provided.
CARE Court builds on Governor Newsom’s $14 billion multi-year investment to provide 55,000 new housing units
and treatment slots as well as a more than $10 billion annual investment in community behavioral health
services.The Governor’s comprehensive approach combines a focus on bridge housing to quickly rehouse
unsheltered individuals with behavioral health issues,all while more new units come online,while also
transforming Medi-Cal to provide more behavioral health services to people struggling the most.