In February 2026, I took my son to the emergency room after he stopped being able to hold a conversation. He was placed on a 72-hour 5150 psychiatric hold, discharged with a seven-day bridge prescription of medication, and released. Seven days later, I drove him to Turning Point Behavioral Health Urgent Care for his first monthly injection of long-acting antipsychotic medication. Within weeks, Sacramento County’s Full Service Partnership (FSP) system placed him with Capital Stars Community Services, a contracted provider operating a fully equipped office on S Street in downtown Sacramento, paid through Medi-Cal at the highest intensity level of community mental health care California offers.
My son is 20 years old. He has a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He spent three years living in and out of homelessness with his biological father before arriving at our door in acute psychiatric collapse, 50 pounds underweight. By June, he was stable. He attended every single prescriber appointment across the entire medication chain. He is living at home, present and engaged in ways he was not capable of four months ago. That progress is real, and it is extraordinary, given where he started.
Capital Stars Community Services recently lost its funding. Staff have begun leaving for secure employment. The program’s ability to deliver regular services has been significantly impacted. And Sacramento County’s entire FSP system is currently mid-redesign, with FSP-level transfers paused county-wide while the new structure takes shape…