DATE: February 25, 2020
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Dawan Utecht, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Without Cause Termination of Agreement with Family Development Center for Therapeutic Child Care Services
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Approve Without Cause Termination of Agreement No. 14-292 with Family Development Center, LLC.
2. Approve and authorize the Director of the Department of Behavioral Health to give 30 days prior written notice to the Family Development Center, LLC terminating Agreement No. 14-292 pursuant to the Without Cause provisions within the agreement effective March 31, 2020.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended actions will terminate the provision of licensed therapeutic child care services by Family Development Center, LLC (FDC) at the Early Intervention Center, co-located within the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) Pathways to Recovery (Pathways) Program prior to contract expiration on June 30, 2020.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the program would remain open through June 30, 2020 with minimal utilization.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no change in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The annual maximum contracted amount ($308,920) is funded with Mental Health Realignment funds. The amount estimated to be paid to contractor through March 2020 is $228,562, allowing a cost savings of $80,358.
DISCUSSION:
Family Development Center, LLC is a contracted provider under Agreement No. 14-292 and provides therapeutic child care services for clients in the Pathways program.
In FY 18-19, the Pathways Program was supported through a County MOU between the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) and Department of Social Services (DSS). Through the MOU, the Pathways program exclusively served families referred by DSS who were involved with the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Welfare to Work (WTW) program, and the Child Welfare system. With desire to leverage Medi-Cal funding while continuing to provide ancillary supports aimed at employment readiness, DSS executed a contract with The Fresno Center in September 2019 for mental health services specific to transitioning individuals from WTW to employment. The services provided by the contractor replaced the services provided by the Pathways program. CalWORKs recipients have access to employment services including child care assistance when participating in the WTW program.
On June 18, 2019, Amendment II to Agreement No. A-14-292 with FDC was approved by your Board for a 12-month extension to continue providing on-site therapeutic child care services for individuals participating in the Pathways Program. During this period, the FDC underwent a program redesign secondary to DSS’ plan for outsourcing the mental health services. As part of the redesign, the Department began to open the program to serve individuals with severe presentation of mental illness and substance use disorder who previously did not have access due to the former program design.
Child referrals to the FDC are dependent on parent participation in the Pathways program. FDC new enrollments have dropped significantly as the majority of the individuals currently served by the program do not have small children. The were no new enrollments from September 2019 through December 2019.
Fiscal Year Annual Cost Enrollments Enrollments
Per Client July - Dec. July - June
17-18 $3,708 45 83
18-19 $6,985 30 44
19-20 through Dec. $11,792 13 N/A
While the Department greatly values the services provided by FDC, after an in-depth review of the services DBH offers, it was determined that DBH was not able to utilize the services provided by FDC in any of the existing service delivery models.
Approval of the recommended action will allow for the termination of FDC Agreement 14-292 for therapeutic child care services pursuant to the Termination - Without Cause clause of the agreement. The Agreement may be terminated by the County or Contractor upon provision of thirty (30) day advance written notice.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The Behavioral Health Board was informed of the recommended action at the February 19, 2020 Behavioral Health Board Meeting.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #42, June 03, 2014 - Agt. No. 14-292 with Family Development Center, LLC
BAI #40, June 13, 2019 - Amendments to Various Agreements for Contract Term Extensions
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - FDC Without Cause Termination Letter
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander