Two years after Governor Gavin Newsom signed CARE Court into law , preliminary numbers show there’s a lot of room to grow.
The program is aimed at getting people suffering from severe mental illness – off the streets and into treatment – allowing everyone from loved ones to first responders to file a petition to get them into the program.
The idea is to create structure around treatment and hold counties accountable to provide services for those who often run into obstacles getting help.
“We want them to come to court because that’s where the court is going to be able to use whatever influence it has to encourage the person to participate, Alameda County Superior Court Judge, Sandy Bean. She is overseeing the county’s CARE Court.
EXCLUSIVE: San Francisco judge weighs in on CARE Court 1 month into launch
The San Francisco Superior Court judge overseeing California’s CARE Court sat down with ABC7 News nearly a month into launch.
The state this past week announced preliminary data that shows about 1,400 people have been connected to the court. That’s far below the number of people the state thinks it could actually help up to 12,000 people a year.