6 Months in and Millions of Dollars Later, California’s CARE Courts Struggle to Gain Momentum

The tortured logic—and fading hope—behind California’s voluntary mental health courts.

A homeless man holds a blowtorch he used to heat fentanyl in Garden Grove, Calif., on April 3, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

LOS ANGELES—A highly anticipated statewide civil court program aimed at getting more people with severe mental illness into treatment continues to see scant numbers, even as several large California counties are in their sixth month of operations.

The Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act, sailed through the Legislature with bipartisan support in 2022. Seven counties launched in October 2023, followed by Los Angeles in December. The rest of California’s 58 counties must implement their programs by the end of the year.