CARESTAR Foundation Awards $300,000 Grant to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals to Advance Equitable Emergency Care for Children in Crisis

Berkeley, California – June 3, 2025 – UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the CARESTAR Foundation to launch a first-of-its-kind study examining emergency medical services (EMS) providers' perspectives on caring for children in acute agitation.

The 18-month project, "From Barriers to Solutions: Prehospital Provider Insights on De-Escalating Agitated Youth," will be led by Dr. Ashley Foster, an assistant clinical professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC San Francisco. Running from July 2025 through December 2026, the study will focus on understanding real-world challenges and opportunities faced by EMS providers in Alameda and Los Angeles counties.

This research builds on prior work by the UCSF team — also funded by CARESTAR — which revealed significant disparities in the use of physical restraints and law enforcement involvement during EMS encounters. The studies found that Black children in Alameda County were nearly twice as likely to be handcuffed during EMS encounters compared to their non-Black peers, with 7.6% of children experiencing behavioral health emergencies being handcuffed by law enforcement. Additionally, more than one in eight children in behavioral health crisis were physically restrained during EMS transport, with handcuffing more common among children from disadvantaged neighborhoods and significantly higher among Black females compared to White females. These findings underscore the urgent need for more equitable, trauma-informed approaches in prehospital pediatric care.

"Our previous research highlighted troubling disparities in how children of color experience emergency care during a behavioral crisis," said Dr. Nicolaus Glomb, an associate clinical professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UCSF. “With this new grant, we can work directly with EMS providers to understand what works—and what gets in the way—when trying to de-escalate agitated youth in the field. Our goal is to create practical solutions that help every child receive compassionate, equitable care, regardless of their background or where they live.”

Glomb was co-principal investigator of the first study with Dr. Kenshata Watkins, an assistant clinical professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UCSF.

The new grant will support in-depth interviews with EMS providers who have firsthand experience responding to pediatric mental and behavioral crises. By exploring their perspectives, the research aims to identify barriers and facilitators to using de-escalation strategies in the field and assess whether successful hospital-based approaches can be adapted for prehospital settings. The goal is to inform practical interventions and training that reduce reliance on physical restraints and promote safer, more dignified care for all children — particularly those from marginalized communities.

“We are proud to support UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in their commitment to advancing racial equity in emergency care,” said Tanir Ami, chief executive officer of the CARESTAR Foundation. “By centering the voices of EMS providers and the needs of children in crisis, this research has the potential to drive meaningful, systemic change across California’s emergency response system.”

About the CARESTAR Foundation:

The CARESTAR Foundation is a philanthropic organization reimagining emergency and prehospital care in California to elevate community voice and power, build a movement, and be a catalyst for systems change. CARESTAR partners with innovators to enable strong and meaningful work transforming the field of emergency and prehospital care so all Californians can receive equitable, unified, compassionate care where and when they need it. Connect with the CARESTAR Foundation on LinkedIn or visit carestarfoundation.org.