Families Rights Matter2, a national advocacy movement, today announced a comprehensive 10-Point Policy Platform designed to close 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 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, as clinicians often misunderstand HIPAA and over-restrict communication. Updated consent rules for adults in psychiatric crisis would create an emergency exception for family involvement when a person is not in their right mind.
Other points include required safety updates to families, a duty to consider family input, and a clear national definition of "incapacity" during mental health crises. The platform also aims to expand HIPAA to cover modern crisis systems like 988 crisis lines and mobile crisis teams. It mandates 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. A petition is available at change.org.
