Fact check: Did Newsom’s mental health court hit his goal for helping Californians?
calmatters.org
Gov. Gavin Newsom this week claimed a major victory for CARE Court, his program to provide mental health treatment to Californians with serious conditions. Did it really help 10,000 people?"

Posting on X [barf], Newsom wrote the CARE Court program “has now helped 10,000+ Californians get the lifesaving support and care they need and deserve – reaching (his administration’s) goal of 7,000 to 12,000 ‘initially served.’”

The administration’s most recent data on the program, which Newsom introduced with much fanfare in March of 2022, says CARE Court has reached just 1,470 people with treatment agreements or plans as of June.

  • celeste@kbin.earth
    4·
    13 days ago

    I was wondering how they reached such wildly different numbers.

    The governor’s office referred CalMatters’ questions to the state’s Health and Human Services Agency. Rodger Butler, a spokesperson for the agency, said CARE Court has reached more than 10,000 people – a conclusion the administration came to by adding together the 5,484 petitions filed as of June, plus the 4,887 people who first engaged with CARE Court but ended up getting services elsewhere.

    But he acknowledged that math could double-count people, as some individuals may have been the subject of a petition and then received services elsewhere. And he acknowledged that it includes people who had their petitions dismissed without receiving services, and those whose petitions are still being processed and have yet to receive services.