Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program

The law formalizes a channel for family and other qualifying petitioners to share relevant updates on care, housing, safety, and plan compliance. It preserves the respondent’s control over confidential information and participation.

What the law does ​

• Allows an eligible original petitioner to provide information, subject to state and federal privacy laws, about the respondent’s condition, functioning, treatment history, housing, safety, service needs, engagement, and CARE agreement or plan compliance.
• Requires the CARE team to receive, review, and document information relevant to care, treatment, services, housing stability, safety, engagement, or CARE-plan implementation.
• Allows the court to consider that information when assessing progress, engagement, changed circumstances, service needs, or compliance.
• Permits the CARE team to receive the information without the respondent’s consent.
• Clarifies that providing information does not give the original petitioner party status or rights to direct treatment, obtain discovery, access confidential records or protected health information, attend confidential proceedings, or otherwise participate without the respondent’s consent.

Who it affects ​

• Original petitioners who are qualifying family members or people with whom the respondent lives.
• Adults subject to CARE Court proceedings.
• CARE teams, county behavioral health agencies, and courts handling CARE cases.

Context ​

The CARE Act provides a court process for certain adults with schizophrenia-spectrum or other psychotic disorders to receive behavioral health treatment, housing, and related services.