Fulton’s $8.25 million bid pairs crisis care with court-supervised treatment

Fulton County wants to expand crisis-response services and treatment options through three grant requests totaling $8.25 million — including a new program that would put some outpatient mental-health care under court supervision.⁠[1]

The important limit: all three are listed as pending in the county’s October grants activity report, which covers activity through Oct. 31. These are proposed uses of grant money, not confirmed awards or an announcement that the expanded services are available.⁠[1][2]

The largest request, $4 million from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, would expand the county’s Co-Responder program into North Fulton and establish stabilization and navigation hubs in both North and South Fulton. The plan also includes more overdose-prevention and recovery outreach and a male reentry stabilization pilot. The county describes the goal as reducing unnecessary incarceration while improving crisis response and community-based treatment.⁠[1]

A separate $500,000 request to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council would expand crisis intervention, outreach, case management and recovery support. It would prioritize South Fulton, Union City, Fairburn, Palmetto and Chattahoochee Hills — communities where the report says behavioral-health service gaps and crisis-response needs have been identified.⁠[1]

The $3.75 million request to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration takes a different approach: court-supervised assisted outpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness, a history of not engaging in treatment and repeated involvement with crisis or justice systems. Working with Probate Court, law enforcement and community providers, the proposed program would combine psychiatric care, case management, peer support, medication management, and housing and benefits assistance. It would monitor treatment engagement and compliance while helping participants transition to voluntary community-based care.⁠[1]

Each request lists no county cash match. Commissioners are scheduled to consider ratifying the grants report at their Nov. 18 meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. County policy uses that report to ratify grant submissions and acceptance of funding; the three behavioral-health requests remain identified in this report as pending, not awarded.⁠[1][2][3]