In a landmark 2024 legal settlement, Massachusetts promised community-based care for those with serious mental illness. Budget cuts could undermine that.
ADVERTISEMENT Sponsored by The Boston Foundation The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION In a landmark 2024 legal settlement, Massachusetts promised community-based care for those with serious mental illness. Budget cuts could undermine that. May 3, 2026 By James Lomastro A mother’s recent New York Times essay on her struggle to help her adult son, who suffers from schizophrenia, has sparked the latest round of a longstanding national debate over whether families should have greater access to legal proceedings that determine treatment for their loved ones. Some propose a family bill of rights: awareness, presence, and voice. They are asking the wrong question. Or rather, they are asking the right question about the wrong problem. The problem is not that families lack adequate standing in commitment hearings, where courts decide whether someone can be involuntarily placed in treatment. The problem is what those hearing...