To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Cheryl Ternes, Director, Human Services
Prepared By:
prepared
Michelle Dossey, Child & Adult Protection Services (CAPS) Division Manager, Human Services; Suzanna Dobbins, Finance Division Manager, Human Services
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presenter
Presenter:
Cheryl Ternes, Director, Human Services; Michelle Dossey, Child/Adult Protection Services Division Manager, Human Services; Suzanna Dobbins, Finance Division Manager, Human Services
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Subject:
title
1:45 PM *Approval of a Select Source Waiver for agreement with Raise The Future Youth Connections Program
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The Arapahoe County Department of Human Services (ACDHS) requests approval from the Board of County Commissioners for the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners to sign a Select Source Waiver for the SFY24-25 Raise The Future contract. The amount of the contract exceeds the $100,000 threshold per the county purchasing policy. Staff is also requesting the waiver be applied for two years.
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Background and Discussion: For the past two state fiscal years, the Colorado Department of Human Services and ACDHS had an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), wherein each entity paid a portion of the contract with Raise The Future. The Colorado Department of Human Services will no longer be participating in this contract. Instead, ACDHS will directly pay Raise The Future in accordance with the contract and will receive Federal and State reimbursement as outlined in the Fiscal Impact.
This contract will allow for Raise the Future, through an evidence-based model, to serve children and youth who have not been matched with a permanent adoptive home and/or do not have permanent connections. The Youth Connections Program follows the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) Child-Focused Recruitment Model. The Youth Connections Program is able to conduct an in-depth review of the existing county case file in its entirety, for this purpose. When not placed in a permanent home and lacking connections, these children are at high risk of aging out of the child welfare system alone and on their own. connections. Federal and State agencies strongly discourage child welfare agencies from allowing children to await placements for long periods of time, or to age out of the system without permanent connections. An additional analysis of other Colorado counties’ success in this area, as well as an analysis of our current adoption program, yielded that the most reasonable and fiscally responsible way to meet the needs of this population, is to contract with Raise The Future.
Fiscal Impact: The new contract with Raise The Future SFY24-25 will manage up to 18 Arapahoe County DHS involved children awaiting permanent adoptive homes and connections. The contract will be $112,988 per year (for SFY23-24 that is an increase of $16,559 from previous year’s total of $96,429) with the total for both years being $225,976. The Federal and State portion of the cost will be 80%, which is $90,390 per year, for a total of $180,780 over the two-year timeframe, and the County share will be 20%, which is $22,598 per year, for a total of $45,196 for two years. There is no need for a county budget supplemental, and the Child Welfare Allocation for State Fiscal Year 2024-2025 is estimated to increase by $1.97m over the current year.
Alternatives: ACDHS has exhausted all other alternatives. There are no other evidence-based providers to meet the needs for this population. This model of service (called Wendy’s Wonderful Kids) is vetted and approved by the State of Colorado and The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The Dave Thomas Foundations provides additional funding to Raise The Future in support of these children. If this waiver were not approved, these children would languish in the system, age-out of our system as adults, and would lack the connections necessary to be successful.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☒Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☐Be community focused
Staff Recommendation: The Department of Human Services recommends approval of the Select Source Waiver and that the waiver be applied for two years.
Concurrence: The Human Services Assistant County Attorney, Linda Arnold concurs with this recommendation. The Purchasing Manager, Nancy Allen concurs with this recommendation.