CARE Act Overview

Senate Bill (SB) 1338 (Chapter 319, Statutes of 2022) established the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act to provide community-based behavioral health services and support to Californians living with untreated schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorders and who meet specific criteria. The CARE Act is intended as an intervention for the most severely impaired Californians to prevent avoidable psychiatric hospitalizations, incarceration, and Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Mental Health conservatorship. SB 1338 created a phased approach to CARE Court implementation throughout California. 

The CARE Act is based on evidence which demonstrates that many people can stabilize, begin healing, and exit homelessness in less restrictive, community-based care settings. To achieve these results, the CARE Court will place individuals on a court-ordered CARE plan for up to 12-months, with the possibility of 12-month extension.

For more background information, please visit the following pages:

• California Health and Human Services (CalHHS)
• California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)

NAMI California: 

• CARE Act Overview

CARE Act in Santa Cruz County

CARE Court will be available to Santa Cruz County residents starting December 1, 2024. The County and Superior Court are collaborating with City and Behavioral Health partners to ensure access to eligible individuals. Further information will be available in Summer 2024. For immediate questions, please contact the County at CareAct@santacruzcountyca.gov.