The CARE Act program is emerging as a significant paradigm shift in California’s approach to addressing the critical intersection of severe mental illness and homelessness. This innovative civil court process is designed to offer individuals struggling with specific behavioral health challenges a compassionate and community-focused pathway towards stability and recovery. Instead of solely relying on more restrictive measures like conservatorship or incarceration, the CARE Act program prioritizes early intervention and comprehensive support services tailored to the unique needs of each participant.
Understanding the Core of the CARE Act Program
At its heart, the CARE Act program distinguishes itself through several key principles that guide its operation and objectives. It is fundamentally compassionate, recognizing the inherent dignity and potential for recovery in every individual. The process is structured within a civil court framework, ensuring legal protections and due process for participants. Crucially, it emphasizes a community-based approach, delivering services and supports within familiar and less restrictive settings. This strategy is underpinned by the understanding that individuals are more likely to engage with and benefit from care when it’s delivered in a supportive community environment.
The program is designed to be culturally and linguistically competent, ensuring that services are accessible and relevant to diverse populations within California. Individualized CARE plans are central to the program’s effectiveness. These plans are meticulously crafted to provide a broad spectrum of essential services. These may include short-term stabilization medications to manage acute symptoms, wellness and recovery supports to foster long-term healing, and vital connections to social services, notably housing assistance. Recognizing that stable housing is foundational for recovery, the CARE Act program acknowledges that securing and maintaining housing is often a prerequisite for successful engagement with treatment and support services. Initially, CARE plans are structured for up to 12 months, with the flexibility for a 12-month extension if deemed necessary to achieve lasting positive outcomes.
Why the CARE Act Program is a Vital Intervention
The CARE Act program is strategically positioned as an upstream diversion, acting proactively to prevent the escalation of mental health crises that often lead to more restrictive and less desirable outcomes. It aims to intervene before individuals reach the point of requiring conservatorship or facing incarceration, both of which can be traumatic and counterproductive to long-term recovery. This preventative approach is grounded in substantial evidence demonstrating that many individuals can achieve stabilization, embark on their healing journey, and successfully transition out of homelessness when provided with appropriate, less restrictive, community-based care settings.
Advances in mental health treatment models, including the development of new longer-acting antipsychotic medications, coupled with dedicated clinical teams and access to housing, have significantly enhanced the prospects for recovery. The CARE Act program leverages these advancements to support individuals who, in the past, might have experienced prolonged suffering on the streets or endured avoidable incarceration. By connecting these individuals with the right combination of treatment and support within the community, the program paves the way for successful stabilization and sustained well-being.
It is important to note that the CARE Act program is intentionally designed to serve a specific population. It is not intended for everyone experiencing homelessness or mental illness. Instead, it focuses on individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders or other psychotic disorders who meet clearly defined criteria. The program targets those who are at risk of, or are already experiencing, severe consequences of their condition, such as arrest, commitment to state hospitals, or becoming subject to Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Mental Health Conservatorships. The CARE Act program may also be a suitable option for individuals transitioning from short-term involuntary hospital holds or as a diversion from certain criminal proceedings, offering a more therapeutic and recovery-oriented alternative. While homelessness in California presents in many forms, the CARE Act program specifically aims to address the most acute and tragic cases – those individuals with treatable mental health conditions who are suffering profoundly without access to effective care. This program is designed to connect these individuals with the necessary treatment and support, guiding them towards a path of lasting recovery and improved quality of life. The CARE Act has the potential to positively impact thousands of Californians as they navigate their journey toward sustained wellness and community reintegration.
How Accountability is Integrated into the CARE Act Program
Accountability within the CARE Act program is designed as a two-way street, applying both to participants and to local governments responsible for providing care. For participants, if an individual is unable to successfully complete their CARE plan despite receiving the full range of services and supports outlined within it, the court may utilize existing authority under the LPS Act to ensure their safety and well-being. Furthermore, in any subsequent hearings under the LPS Act that occur within six months of the CARE plan’s termination, the participant’s inability to complete the CARE plan will be taken into consideration. Crucially, this situation creates a presumption that the individual requires intervention beyond the supports and services already provided through the CARE program, prompting a reassessment of their needs and the development of an appropriate care strategy.
Simultaneously, the CARE Act program establishes accountability for local governments in fulfilling their obligations to provide care for individuals in need. It leverages the substantial financial resources already available to counties, including over $10 billion annually dedicated to behavioral health care through funding streams such as the Mental Health Services Act and behavioral health realignment funds. Furthermore, cities and counties have access to a variety of housing and clinical residential placement options, including over $15 billion in state funding allocated over the past two years specifically to address homelessness. CARE Court participants are also prioritized for bridge housing opportunities funded by the Behavioral Health Bridge Housing program, which provides $1.5 billion for housing and housing support services. To ensure that local governments meet their responsibilities under court-ordered CARE plans, the CARE Act program incorporates mechanisms for enforcement. If local governments fail to provide the specified services and supports, the Court is empowered to order sanctions. In extreme cases of non-compliance, the Court has the authority to appoint an agent to ensure that essential services are delivered effectively and without further delay. This robust accountability framework aims to ensure that the CARE Act program is not only well-intentioned but also effectively implemented, translating its compassionate goals into tangible improvements in the lives of individuals struggling with severe mental illness and homelessness.
