California creates CARE Program for mental health

California recently enacted SB 1338, the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program. Under the CARE Act, certain adults, including a person with whom the respondent resides, anyone who stands in loco parentis to the respondent, directors of hospitals, and first responders, may petition the court to create a voluntary CARE agreement or court-ordered CARE plan to provide behavioral health care, including stabilization medication, housing, and other services to adults experiencing a “severe mental illness” in the disorder class schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Cal. Health & Safety Code § 5971(b) (defining the term “CARE plan”); § 5972 (listing criteria for CARE process); § 5974 (identifying persons who may petition to initiate CARE process).

The respondent is entitled to be represented by counsel at all stages of the proceeding and regardless of indigence, Cal. Health & Safety Code § 5976, and “[i]f the court finds that the petitioner has made a prima facie showing that the respondent is, or may be, a person described in Section 5972”, and — where the petitioner is someone other than the director of a county behavioral health agency — a court-ordered written report demonstrates that the respondent meets or is likely to meet the CARE criteria, the matter is scheduled for an initial appearance and counsel is appointed. Cal. Health & Safety Code § 5977(a)(3)(A)(ii).

To read a critical perspective about the CARE Act, see Eve Garrow and Kath Rogers, Why We Vehemently Oppose the Governor’s “CARE Court” Proposal — And So Should You. by the ACLU California Action (June 22, 2022).