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"Every family that joins makes this movement stronger. Thank you for standing with us." — Leon Shelmire Jr.
When someone we love is in a mental-health crisis, families are the ones who know the history, the medicines, and the warning signs. Families Rights Matter² is a national movement to update HIPAA, FERPA, and America's crisis-care system so families can be part of the care in the moments that matter most.
Add your name. It goes to the lawmakers who can make this law.
Thank you for standing with families. Share it with one person today — that is how this grows.
Also on Change.org: sign there too.
Each was written for its own time. Together, they decide whether a family can help during a psychiatric emergency.
Written to protect medical records. It allows providers to share information with families but never requires it, and many clinicians hold back out of legal caution — even when a family could help.
FRM² updates it in Points 1–6: required family notification, clear training, and a crisis exception.
Written to protect student records. Once a student turns 18 or enters college, parents usually are not told about a campus hospitalization, a crisis at the health center, or a suicide attempt.
FRM² updates it in Points 1, 2, 5 and 6: campuses follow the same emergency rules as hospitals.
Medicaid generally cannot pay for adults aged 21–64 in psychiatric hospitals with more than 16 beds. It was written to close the old asylums; today it keeps states from building the modern crisis beds families are waiting for.
FRM² updates it in Point 11: states can build modern hospitals and stabilization centers.
Building on a proven path: in 2016 the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646) passed the House 422–2, and parts of it became law inside the 21st Century Cures Act. FRM² is the next step — one national framework that finishes the work.
A national crisis-care reform framework written by Leon Shelmire Jr. and the families of the movement.
Hospitals, crisis responders, universities, and correctional facilities notify a designated family member during psychiatric emergencies, suicide attempts, violent-risk incidents, or crisis holds.
Uniform training for healthcare providers, crisis teams, 988 operators, schools, and universities, so every responder knows what they can and must share in an emergency.
Emergency exceptions apply when a person is in psychosis or severe crisis, and families receive basic updates: alive, safe, admitted, transferred, discharged.
Clinicians and crisis responders document and consider the psychiatric history, safety warnings, and behavioral information families provide.
One clear federal standard for incapacity during emergencies, applied the same way across hospitals, universities, and crisis systems.
Both laws cover 988 crisis lines, mobile crisis teams, school-based clinics, university health centers, and digital mental-health platforms.
When a person goes through repeated crisis holds, the state steps in with treatment and long-term support, so families are no longer left alone with the cycle.
Every department runs a specialized unit trained in de-escalation, psychiatric emergencies, and family communication.
Working psychiatric stabilization units, timely competency evaluations, and humane crisis care inside correctional facilities.
Higher reimbursement for crisis care such as CPT 90839 crisis psychotherapy, steady staffing, and billing structures that support the people doing this work.
Update the IMD rule so states can build modern psychiatric hospitals, youth stabilization centers, and regional crisis-care facilities.
Providers create a crisis-safety plan with each family: warning signs, follow-up steps, and how everyone stays in touch in an emergency.
New York's Kendra's Law keeps people with serious mental illness connected to treatment. The state's own report shows what changed.
State Office of Mental Health, Final Report, March 2005
Independent research and the road ahead
A 2010 Columbia University study found that people under Kendra's Law orders were four times less likely to commit future violence than a comparison group.
When treatment stays consistent, fewer families face the emergency room, the jail cell, or the street.
Every state's progress still depends on having enough beds — and the federal IMD Exclusion limits them everywhere. A national bill opens that door for every state.
Sources: New York State Office of Mental Health, Kendra's Law: Final Report on the Status of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (March 2005); Phelan et al., Columbia University, Psychiatric Services (2010).
Leon Shelmire Jr. and Rev. Cheryl Land-Shelmire, co-founders of Shelmire Ministries.
These reforms are about saving lives. Families deserve to be included and to know their loved ones are safe.
Leon Shelmire Jr. is an author, historian, minister, and advocate. He founded Families Rights Matter² after his own family lived through a mental-health crisis, and he has made it a national platform for policy reform, public education, and community organizing.
Born in Oakland, California and raised in Scotlandville, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Leon attended Central High School and Southern University A&M College, then served in the U.S. Army during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. With his wife, Rev. Cheryl Land-Shelmire, he co-founded Shelmire Ministries, which offers marriage coaching and family empowerment rooted in faith.
Brings untold African American history to light, including Breaking Barriers: The Life and Legacy of Sadie Samuels.
Served in the U.S. Army during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Co-founder of Shelmire Ministries with Rev. Cheryl Land-Shelmire.
Leads #familiesrightsmatter2 and #childrenofGodunited.
Lawmakers act when they hear from families. Every gift keeps the movement reaching new ones.
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Find my representativeGifts fund petition drives, lawmaker outreach, family resources, and public education about HIPAA, FERPA, and the IMD Exclusion.
Releases and interviews from the movement.
The faith that carries this movement: every person is part of one family.
"Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family." — Hebrews 2:11
Leon Shelmire Jr. and Rev. Cheryl Land-Shelmire, #childrenofgodunited · Read the devotional
Kansas City, Kansas