<!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ --></p> <p>from <a href=""https://calmatters.org/author/marisa-kendall/"" title=""Posts" by="" marisa="" kendall="" class=""author" url="" fn="" rel=""author"">Marissa Kendall</a>CalMatters</p> <p>This story was originally published by <a href=""https://calmatters.org/"">CalMatters</a>. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/"">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.</p> <p>In 2023, the governor <a href=""https://calmatters.org/tag/gavin-newsom/"">Gavin Newsom</a> launched a new program designed to revolutionize the way counties deliver mental health care to some of their most vulnerable residents. </p> <p><a href=""https://calmatters.org/series/care-court-california-mental-health-treatment/"">CARE court </a>provides a new way for courts to coordinate mental health and substance use treatment, medication and residential placement for people affected by psychosis, including those who sleep rough. But CalMatters investigations found that the program has so far fallen short of expectations. It helps <a href=""https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2025/09/care-court-2025-data/"">much less people</a> than intended, that is <a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/12/care-court-homeless/"">he was trying to help</a> homeless participants, and some families had their own <a href=""https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2025/12/care-court-families/"">dashed hopes</a> when CARE Court failed to help their loved ones who could not consent to treatment.</p> <p><a href=""https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb27"">Senate Bill 27</a>by a Democrat <a href=""https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/thomas-umberg-165043"">Tom Umberg</a> of Santa Ana, seeks to address some of these concerns. The law, which comes into force on Jan. 1. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2025/10/care-court-expansion-new-law/"">expands who is eligible</a> for CARE court. Under the original law, only people diagnosed with schizophrenia and other limited psychotic disorders qualified for the program. Now, people experiencing psychosis as a result of bipolar disorder can also enter the program. </p> <p>Umberg said the law could help CARE Court services reach more people, but he doesn’t expect to dramatically increase the program’s numbers. Districts don’t seem sure how much of a difference the change will make. San Diego, for example, estimated it could expand its CARE Court program by anywhere between 3.5 percent and 48.1 percent.</p> <p>The law also tries to make it easier for people to get into CARE Court by smoothing out some of the logistical hurdles: it combines two early court hearings into one to reduce the time participants have to spend in court and save administrative resources. </p> <p>This law also allows the criminal justice system to refer someone directly to CARE Court if they are charged with a crime and deemed incompetent to stand trial.</p> <p>As of the end of October, California courts had received 3,092 CARE Court petitions, approved 684 treatment agreements and ordered 22 CARE plans, according to the California Judicial Council. The Newsom administration initially estimated that between 7,000 and 12,000 Californians would be eligible for CARE Court. </p> <p>This article was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/12/care-court-sb-27-new-law/"">originally published on CalMatters</a> and is republished under <a href=""https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives</a> license.</p> <p> Copy the HTML
