Alliance Alert: For years, the Alliance for Rights and Recovery has called for an independent evaluation of Kendra’s Law to determine whether court orders themselves improve outcomes or whether it is the services provided through the program that make the difference. We are pleased to finally see this long-awaited report commissioned by the NYS Legislature released, and its findings confirm what peers, advocates, and many providers have long understood: it is access to high-quality, intensive, community-based services, not coercion, that drives recovery. The study demonstrates that people receiving these services voluntarily experienced outcomes comparable to those under court order, reinforcing the need to invest in voluntary supports rather than expanding forced treatment. We will continue working with OMH, the Legislature, providers, peers, and families to expand access voluntary intensive services while reducing New York’s reliance on court-ordered interventions.
View the full report on the OMH website here.
This important conversation will continue at the Alliance for Rights and Recovery Annual Conference, where attendees will hear updates from the Office of Mental Health and participate in a panel on Kendra’s Law featuring members of the research team behind this landmark evaluation, including Dr. Bevin Croft, to discuss the report’s findings, recommendations, and what they mean for the future of New York’s behavioral health system.
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Full Conference Program
New Evaluation Finds that Voluntary Intensive Services
Produced Outcomes Comparable to Court-Ordered Treatment
Albany, NY – July 30, 2026
Contact: Harvey Rosenthal, CEO (518-527-0564, harveyr@rightsandrecovery.org)
Luke Sikinyi, VP of Public Policy (518-703-0264, lukes@rightsandrecovery.org)
The Alliance for Rights and Recovery issued the following statement on the newly released evaluation of New York’s court ordered mental health treatment program (known as Assisted Outpatient Treatment) as authorized under “Kendra’s Law” 1999 legislation.
“The bottom line is that the state’s own independent evaluation found that voluntary intensive services produced outcomes comparable to court-ordered treatment,” said Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the Alliance for Rights and Recovery.
Researchers stated in the report’s executive summary that “the clearest and most consistent result is that positive outcomes are driven by access to needed services—such as Assertive Community Treatment, housing support, case management, Health Home Plus, and transportation support—all of which are available voluntarily with comparable outcomes.”
They asserted “the positive outcomes of the voluntary comparison group, combined with the qualitative finding that voluntary intensive treatment options were not always clearly communicated to individuals determined to be AOT-eligible suggests that there is room for reduction in mandated treatment without a negative impact on desired outcomes.”
“For years, we’ve been told that Kendra’s Law works because of the court order. This independent evaluation tells a different story. What changes people’s lives isn’t coercion, it’s access to high-quality, intensive, community-based services,” said Luke Sikinyi, Alliance for Rights and Recovery Vice President of Public Policy.
“The researchers’ findings should fundamentally change this conversation. If we can achieve the same recovery outcomes without taking away someone’s voice, autonomy, and civil liberties, then expanding voluntary services must become our first priority,” he said.
The Alliance also noted that access to these services remains extremely limited. As documented in the state’s 2009 evaluation, many AOT petitions have been pursued primarily to provide people with priority access services that are otherwise extremely difficult to obtain.
The evaluation also found that implementation of the program has not met due process standards. According to the report, many participants experienced the process as one in which they had little meaningful voice, with treatment plans often developed before individuals had meaningful opportunities for input and where court hearings were typically brief, rarely contested, and perceived as largely predetermined.
“Researchers also found that law enforcement involvement in removal orders disproportionately affects people of color,” said Sikinyi. “Interviewees consistently described those encounters as traumatic and as contributing to distrust of the behavioral health system, particularly among Black and Brown New Yorkers.”
The report concludes that although Kendra’s Law was intended to serve as the least restrictive alternative, many participants and providers instead experienced it as a mechanism for obtaining services that should have been available voluntarily in the first place.
The Alliance strongly endorses several of the evaluation’s key recommendations, including:
- Expanding voluntary pathways to intensive community services so that access is never dependent on obtaining a court order.
- Ensuring that Enhanced Voluntary Agreements and other least restrictive, recovery-oriented alternatives are fully explored before pursuing Kendra’s Law.
- Strengthening person-centered treatment planning and ensuring individuals have meaningful input into their own recovery.
- Improving education about legal rights and the court process.
- Expanding independent advocacy and peer support.
- Increasing transparency, accountability, and oversight.
- Addressing racial disparities and strengthening cultural responsiveness.
- Developing non-police responses to behavioral health crises.
While recent changes to Kendra’s Law implementation announced by the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) address some of these recommendations, including standardizing Enhanced Voluntary Agreements (EVAs), their success should be measured by transparent public data showing whether EVAs are reducing reliance on court orders and whether New Yorkers are gaining greater access to voluntary, community-based services before court intervention is considered. The Alliance also encourages OMH to build on its new data reporting dashboards so these outcomes can be tracked over time.
“This independent evaluation makes clear that New York’s greatest opportunity lies not in expanding coercion, but in expanding access,” said Rosenthal.
“By investing in robust voluntary services, protecting civil rights, strengthening due process, addressing racial inequities, and ensuring that every New Yorker can obtain intensive support without first entering the court system, we can build a behavioral health system that promotes recovery, autonomy, dignity, and full community inclusion,” he said.
“The Alliance looks forward to working with OMH, providers, peers, families, and legislators to advance these recommendations and continue transforming New York’s behavioral health system into one that leads with services rather than court orders,” Sikinyi said.Top of FormBottom of Form