Families Rights Matter2, a national movement advocating for mental health crisis reform, has announced a comprehensive 10-Point Policy Platform to address longstanding failures in HIPAA and the mental health crisis response system. The platform seeks to close dangerous gaps that leave families powerless, patients unprotected, and communities at risk.
"Families are being shut out during the most critical moments of their loved ones' lives," said Leon Shelmire Jr., founder of Families Rights Matter2. "HIPAA was never designed for today's mental health crisis reality. Our platform brings common-sense solutions that protect patients, empower families, and strengthen public safety."
The 10-point platform includes mandatory family communication during mental health crises, requiring providers to notify and communicate with families when a loved one is in crisis. It also calls for national HIPAA training to end provider confusion, updated consent rules for adults in psychiatric crisis, required safety updates to families, and a duty to consider family input. Additionally, the platform advocates for a clear national definition of "incapacity," expanding HIPAA to cover modern crisis systems like 988 lines and mobile crisis teams, mandatory state intervention after repeated crisis holds, mental health crisis response units in every police department, and mental health treatment units in all jails and prisons.
"These reforms are not about politics — they are about saving lives," Shelmire said. "Families deserve to have input, to be included in treatment planning, and to know their loved ones are safe. Communities deserve a crisis system that works. And people in crisis deserve treatment, not abandonment."
Families Rights Matter2 is calling on lawmakers, mental health leaders, and community organizations to support the platform. A petition supporting the reforms is available at Change.org.
The movement highlights that HIPAA often allows providers to share information but does not require it, leaving families in the dark. Clinicians frequently misunderstand privacy rules and over-restrict communication, while adults in psychiatric crisis are treated as capable decision-makers even when they are not. The platform aims to address these issues by creating emergency exceptions, establishing national standards, and ensuring all crisis response systems are covered by privacy and communication rules.
Families Rights Matter2 is a national advocacy movement dedicated to reforming mental health crisis laws, strengthening family rights, and ensuring no one faces a psychiatric emergency alone.
