LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Los Angeles Superior Court officials Wednesday unveiled a website providing information and details on the county's upcoming start of the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act, or CARE Court, program that allows individuals to petition a court to provide treatment for people suffering from mental illness.
The CARE Court program, which is already operating in seven California counties, including Orange and San Diego, is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles County on Dec. 1, one year earlier than originally planned.
The website, www.lacourt.org/care, provides details of the program and information on how the system works.
"By providing residents access to this information early, we hope to empower our communities with knowledge of how the CARE Court process may provide vulnerable individuals suffering from severe mental health disorders the care they need, and deserve, to stabilize and succeed," Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner said in a statement.
The CARE Court program was approved by the state Legislature last year. It allows eligible people — including relatives, first responders, health care providers and mental health experts — to petition a court to order care services and housing for individuals suffering from mental health issues.
To be eligible for the CARE Court, a person must be:
- 18 years of age or older;
- diagnosed with a disorder within the "schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders" class of disorders and currently experiencing symptoms;
- not clinically stabilized in ongoing treatment; and
- the individual's mental health is substantially deteriorating, and they are unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision and/or they need services and support to prevent relapse and deterioration.
People who enter the CARE Court system can eventually receive services such as mental health care, housing and other support for a maximum of two years, with periodic review hearings scheduled to go over the case.
The subjects of the petitions will be provided with legal representation. Some critics of the program have suggested that people targeted by the petitions could be unwillingly forced into care or ultimately into conservatorships. But proponents contend the alternative is for people to sink deeper into mental illness and potentially die living on the streets.
Los Angeles Superior Court will initially hold CARE Court proceedings at the Norwalk Courthouse, but the operation is expected to eventually move to a more centralized location.