To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Nick Honey, 707-565-4343; Briana Downey, 707-565-4348
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
2021 CalOES Child Advocacy Center Program Grant Funding
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Authorize the Human Services Department (HSD) Director to accept grant funding from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) for $200,000 to provide essential services at the Redwood Children’s Center and to fund a portion of a time-limited Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst to support the Redwood Children’s Center and Family, Youth & Children’s Services Division.
B) Adopt a position resolution approving the addition of 1.0 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Time-Limited Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst effective July 14, 2020 through June 30, 2022.
end
Executive Summary:
The CalOES Child Advocacy Center Program grant funds Child Advocacy Centers in California that provide services to child abuse victims to reduce trauma to children and their families. A Request for Applications for the Child Advocacy Center Program grant was released by CalOES on December 30, 2019. The Human Services Department was awarded the funding on April 14, 2020 for a funding year of April 1, 2020-March 31, 2021. HSD is seeking approval from the Board of Supervisors for use of the CalOES funds and position requested due to the short grant period of April 2020-March 2021.
The Redwood Children’s Center (RCC), operated by Family, Youth & Children’s Services, is an accredited Child Advocacy Center. RCC serves as the coordination hub for investigation and intervention services for child victims of sexual and physical abuse. The CalOES grant will fund ongoing therapeutic services for victims and their families, provide continuing professional development for the Multidisciplinary Team, and partially fund (.6 FTE) a two-year, time-limited, Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst (PPEA) to provide contract and program oversight to support the RCC. Additional funding through Family, Youth & Children’s Services will fund the remaining portion of the PPEA position to also provide administrative support for Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (.15 FTE) as well as for overseeing housing access programs for families with active Child Welfare cases through the Bringing Families Home grant (.25 FTE).
Discussion:
Family, Youth and Children’s Services continues to develop its existing services to meet the needs of children and families that are at risk of or involved in child welfare services due to concerns of child abuse or neglect. In order to more effectively support children and families in Sonoma County, Redwood Children’s Center continues to be the only accredited Child Advocacy Center in Sonoma County. When police or Child Protective Services believe a child is being sexually or physically abused, that child is brought to the RCC to be interviewed and/or examined for possible signs of abuse.
The Sonoma County Family Youth and Children’s Services division serves approximately 450 foster youth each year, and in conjunction with community partners, provides many supportive services for those children and families. Since its inception in 1994, RCC has worked alongside law enforcement, the Department of Health Services and child welfare workers, providing over 7,233 forensic investigative interviews and over 1,442 forensic sexual assault medical exams for children involved in child abuse investigations in our community. On average, RCC conducts 250-270 forensic interviews each year.
RCC provides a safe, child-focused environment in which a child tells their story once to a trained forensic interviewer who knows how to ask questions in a way that does not re-traumatize the child. This ensures that the child does not have to tell their story multiple times to doctors, police, lawyers, and investigators in separate interviews. After the RCC interview, the Multidisciplinary Team meets to make decisions about how to best help the child and family. The Multidisciplinary Team includes medical professionals, law enforcement, mental health practitioners, the District Attorney’s office, social workers, victim advocacy, and other professionals who support child victims of abuse. RCC is located at the Family Justice Center and works closely with other agencies co-located there, including legal aid, victim’s witness services, immigration services, and access to safe houses.
RCC leads the County’s Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) program, created through Senate Bill 855 to protect and serve child victims of commercial sexual exploitation through California’s child welfare services programs. The California Department of Social Services provides an annual allocation to counties for the administration of the program. The CSEC program uses an interagency and Multidisciplinary Team approach to provide collaborative prevention and intervention activities and services for youth who are at risk or are victims of CSEC activities. Youth involved with RCC are screened and assessed for CSEC activity and services are coordinated within the Family Justice Center.
RCC has successfully utilized CalOES funding since 2018 to improve and increase services for victims in the areas of mental health, victim support and advocacy, multidisciplinary response, and providing a child focused setting. RCC provides children with therapy referrals for treatment in trauma informed and evidence-based modalities, medical exams, victim advocacy, and case management services. Therapy partners include Verity, LifeWorks of Sonoma County, the YWCA, and other therapists working in the community. The new CalOES grant will expand the mental health services provision of RCC by increasing the number of contracted therapists and providing training in evidence-informed modalities, reducing long waiting lists with local providers.
In addition to the CalOES grant, the PPEA position will be funded in part by the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Program allocation and the Bringing Families Home grant. The Bringing Families Home grant works to provide housing-related services to families receiving child welfare services, increase the number of families reunifying, and prevent foster care placement. This is a three-year grant. The position will provide support to all three programs as they intertwine with many of the children RCC serves and will help meet the goals of increasing coordination of supportive services, Multidisciplinary Team response and training, and outcome reporting and grants management.
Prior Board Actions:
3/10/20: Board approval of the Human Services Department Family, Youth and Children’s Services System Improvement Plan.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 20-21 Adopted |
FY21-22 Projected |
FY 22-23 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$106,046 |
$264,516 |
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
156,590 |
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$262,636 |
$264,516 |
|
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Child Advocacy Center Program Grant (CalOES) |
$200,000 |
$200,000 |
|
|
CSEC State Allocation |
$23,489 |
$24,194 |
|
|
Bringing Families Home Program Grant |
$39,147 |
$40,322 |
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$262,636 |
$264,516 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The proposed cost of a 1.0 FTE Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst (PPEA) and associated administration costs will be funded by three primary revenue sources: (1) $200,000 from CaIOES; (2) $39,147 from the Bringing Families Home (BFH) Program grant; and (3) $23,489 from CSEC services through California Department of Social Services. A two-year Time-Limited status is requested for the PPEA because HSD is already in the 2nd year of a 3-year BFH grant period. No county General Fund is required to run this program. Upon approval of the Recommended Action, the necessary revenue and expenditure appropriations adjustments will be incorporated into HSD’s overall budget to be considered at September 2020 Budget Hearings.
The CalOES grant period is one-year. This particular grant is only eligible for Child Advocacy Centers to fund affiliate, developing, and accredited CACs in California that provide services to child abuse and neglect victims to reduce trauma to children and their families by using a multidisciplinary team approach. Redwood Children’s Center is an accredited CAC and has successfully received this grant for three consecutive years. The Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst position is a two-year time-limited position. Should the CalOES funding not be available beyond this grant cycle, HSD will re-allocate funds from annual CSEC funding received from the California Department of Social Services to pay for .75 FTE of the Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst along with the Bringing Families Home grant funding the remaining .25 FTE as planned.
The California Department of Social Services provides an annual CSEC allocation to Child Welfare departments across California that opt in to the state CSEC program to meet the requirements of the federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act. Sonoma County has opted in to the program securing annual funding to support efforts to address CSEC.
The CalOES grant has a 20% local match requirement. HSD will meet the local match requirement with an “in-kind” match through the contracted service providers, Verity and LifeWorks.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst |
$6,228.31 - $7,569.29 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
This two-year, time-limited position will not impact permanent staffing levels and will complete duties currently assigned to a number of other members of the Family Youth & Children’s Services management team. The position will also complete tasks that are not currently being carried out related to the more effective implementation of the three programs. This new position is being added in lieu of using an existing allocation to avoid supplanting funds per the grant requirements (Certification Article 7).
Attachments:
- Position Resolution
- CalOES Grant Award Letter
- Bringing Families Home Grant Award Letter
- Confirmation of CSEC Allocation (CFL)
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None