Families Rights Matter2, a national movement advocating for mental-health crisis reform, today announced a comprehensive 10-Point Policy Platform designed to close the most dangerous gaps in HIPAA and modernize America's mental-health crisis response system. The platform addresses long-standing failures 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 platform includes mandatory family communication during crises, national HIPAA training to end provider confusion, updated consent rules for adults in psychiatric crisis, and required safety updates to families. It also calls for a duty to consider family input, a clear national definition of incapacity, expanded HIPAA coverage to modern crisis systems like 988 lines, 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 and join the movement to modernize America's crisis-response system. The organization has launched a petition at Change.org to rally public support.
