California’s new compulsory mental health treatment program is set to begin in Riverside County Oct. 2. Riverside is one of seven counties in the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court pilot program.
The program authorizes courts to place adults with psychotic disorders in a yearlong treatment program at another person’s petition. It also applies to misdemeanor defendants found mentally incompetent to stand trial, but only if the defendants were found ineligible for diversion programs. If a misdemeanor defendant is accepted into the CARE Act, their charges will be dismissed.
“The CARE Act is one more way in which the court can help to ensure that eligible individuals are provided with the services and support necessary to address their needs,” Riverside Superior Court Presiding Judge Judith Clark said in a statement.
The enrollee in the program will not be held financially responsible for any copayments, deductibles or cost-sharing, with the exception of payments for prescription drugs.
Only 13 categories of people can submit a CARE Act petition. A co-habitant, spouse, child, parent, guardian, hospital director, first responder, a California tribal court judge or the respondent themself can file the petition.
In addition, the respondent can only qualify for the CARE Court program in two ways. They qualify if they are unlikely to survive safely in the community without intervention, and if their condition is substantially deteriorating. People would also qualify if they need services and support to prevent a relapse that would lead to grave disability or serious harm to themselves or others.
The CARE plan must also be the least restrictive alternative necessary to ensure the person’s recovery and stability.
Petitioners can fill out the CARE-100 form and submit it online through e-filing. Petitioners must also submit a declaration from a licensed behavioral health professional stating that they examined the respondent and determined they qualified, or stating that they were unable to examine the respondent but still believe they qualify for the program.
CARE Act treatments are optional unless danger to self or others requires temporary involuntary treatment.
CARE Court will be held Monday through Friday, in the afternoon, in Department 12 of the Riverside Historic Courthouse. The proceedings are not open to the public.
The Western Center on Law and Poverty filed a petition with the California Supreme Court to halt the CARE Act on Jan. 26. The Supreme Court declined to review the act April 19.
“An unprecedented number of Californians live on the streets and face severe mental illness. It is gut wrenching to see. The CARE Act accurately describes this humanitarian crisis but prescribes a wrong, inhumane solution. Not only is creating this new court system to round up individuals unconstitutional, it is bad policy subject to pervasive societal biases and disproven methods of treating mental illness,” the WCLP wrote in a Feb. 14 announcement.
The WCLP said the state should focus on guaranteeing behavioral health and housing services instead of developing what they called an involuntary and coercive system.
