DATE: August 19, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan L. Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
Kirk Haynes, Probation Chief, Department of Probation
SUBJECT: Master Agreement for Child Welfare Mental Health Services
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and Authorize the Chairman to execute a Master Agreement for the provision of outpatient specialty mental health services and court-specific services to youth involved in the Child Welfare Services and/or Probation systems, and their families, effective August 19, 2025, through June 30, 2030, which includes a base contract and two optional one-year extensions, total not to exceed $131,603,462.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended action will allow the Department to enter into a master agreement for the provision of specialty mental health services and court-specific services for youth involved in the Child Welfare Services and/or Probation systems, and their families. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There is no viable alternative action. Should the Board not approve the recommended action, children and families involved in the Child Welfare Services and/or Probation systems who are currently receiving court-ordered specialty mental health services and/or requiring services in the future may experience a gap and/or delay in services.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The total maximum amount of the recommended Master Agreement ($131,603,462) will be fully offset with Medi-Cal Federal Financial Participation , Mental Health Realignment, Child Welfare Realignment, and Youthful Offender Block Grant. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Behavioral Health Department’s Org 5630 FY 2025-26 Recommended Budget, Probation Department’s Org 3430 FY 2025-26 Recommended Budget and will be included in all subsequent recommended budgets for the entirety of the contract term. Actual costs will be determined by actual services provided.
DISCUSSION:
On June 18, 2019, the Board approved Master Agreement No. A-19-277 with California Psychological Institute, Central Star Behavioral Health, and Pacific Clinics for Child Welfare Mental Health (CWMH) Services for County persons served. The agreement was amended once to add Turning Point of Central California to the Agreement to address the increased number of referrals and increase the maximum by $27,000,000 to a total of $107,000,000.
On June 20, 2023, the Board approved Superseding Master Agreement No. A-23-282 to include new California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) requirements set by the Department of Health Care Services including payment reform requirements.
On June 24, 2025, your Board approved Amendment No. 2 (No. 25-292) to the Agreement to extend the term for three months, with an optional additional three-month extension, to prevent a gap in services in anticipation for the implementation of a new Agreement.
The Department released a Request for Proposal (RFP) on April 2, 2025, for the provision of specialty mental health services and court-specific services for youth involved in the Child Welfare Services and/or Probation systems, and their families. Addendum No. 1 to the RFP was issued on April 11, 2025, to respond to questions from potential bidders. The RFP closed on April 24, 2025. Six bids were received: California Psychological Institute (CPI) ($54,356,445), North Star Family Center (North Star) ($17,226,992), Stars Behavioral Health Group (Central Star) ($25,534,950), Turning Point of Central California (Turning Point) ($28,467,400), Uplift Family Services (Uplift) ($22,653,401), and Victor Community Support Services (Victor) ($50,409,467). After evaluating the proposals, the RFP Evaluation Panel recommended funding of the proposals submitted by CPI, Central Star, Turning Point, and Victor. The Evaluation Panel determined that these four proposals were the most responsive and advantageous to the County.
The Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), the Department of Social Services (DSS), and the Probation Department (Probation) have been working collaboratively towards the provision of specialty mental health services for children and their families involved in the DSS Child Welfare Services and Probation systems. The goal of this collaboration is to contract with one or more community-based providers to meet the mental health needs of this population, in alignment with the State’s Pathways to Well-Being Project, Continuum of Care Reform, and the California Integrated Core Practice Model. To meet this objective, the Child Welfare Mental Health (CWMH) program is responsible for providing intensive outpatient specialty mental health services (SMHS) to children and youth, their parents and caregivers who require these services to address their needs, as well as court-specific services to children and families in Fresno County’s CWS and Probation systems. The majority of the outpatient SMHS, such as assessments, plan development, therapy, rehabilitation services, crisis intervention, case management, intensive home-based services, and intensive care coordination provided in this program are expected to be community-based and provided in the family’s home or in the community, whenever possible.
The maximum compensation for this Master Agreement was determined based on several factors including the accepted bids and the number of services rendered in the previous fiscal years. In FY 2023-2024, 2,272 unique clients were served among four vendors with 81,579 services rendered. Between July 1, 2024, and June 1, 2025, 1,761 unique clients were served, with 56,450 services rendered.
If the recommended agreement is approved, CPI, Central Star, Turning Point, and Victor will provide outpatient specialty mental health services and court-specific services to children and their families involved in the Child Welfare Services and Probation systems. The majority of the clients served have high-acuity needs and require long-term services. If approved, the recommended agreement will become effective upon execution and may be terminated by the County DBH, DSS, or Probation Directors, or their designees, or the contractor(s), upon providing a 60-day advanced written notice.
The modification and rate modification clauses of the agreement delegate the Board’s authority to the DBH Director to make non-material changes to the agreement, that will not result in any change to the maximum compensation payable to Contractor(s), during the term of the agreement, as further described in the Article 15, Sections 1 and 2 of the agreement.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The Behavioral Health Board was informed of the recommended Master Agreement at its June 2025 meeting.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #51, June 24, 2025
BAI #44, June 20, 2023
BAI #36, April 13, 2021
BAI #39, June 18, 2019
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Master Agreement
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander, Jr.