Therapeutic Foster Care Services

The County of Tuolumne, through its Health and Human Services Agency, Tuolumne County Behavioral Health (TCBH), hereinafter referred to as the “County”, is requesting proposals from qualified Foster Family Agencies (FFAs) interested in providing, facilitating, and overseeing Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) services for the priority population: children and youth under the age of 21 placed in foster care by the Tuolumne County Department of Child Welfare Services (CWS) or Tuolumne County Probation Department (TCPD), who meet medical necessity for specialty mental health services (SMHS), and are at risk of entering a higher level of care, or are stepping down from a higher level of care.

TCBH intends to award one or more Services as Needed (SAN) contracts to the respondents selected as the most responsive and whose responses conform to the Request for Proposal (RFP) and meets the County requirements.

TCBH reserves the right to conduct interviews with anyone who submits a proposal before making a final decision.

Proposals shall form the basis for any subsequent awarded contract. TCBH reserves the right to dissolve a contract if/when awarded Contractor materially alters staff, deliverables and/or outcomes any time after the contract award.

California law and federal law provide specific employment restrictions for retirees and/or current County employees that desire to contract with the County.

For CalPERS retirees: if the work you will perform as a contractor is the same or similar to work you performed as an active employee or is work that is performed by active employees, it is most likely subject to the PERS retired annuitant restrictions, meaning the employment is disallowed and the County will not be able to enter into a contract with you.

For current County employees: California and federal law prohibit a current employee from contracting with its employer while being an active employee. If an employee is interested in becoming an independent contractor, the employee must consider separation from employment with the County, however should the employee retire, he/she may be subject to the CalPERS retired annuitant laws. Should a current County employee respond to a RFP while in active employment status, the employee must separate from employment prior to award of the contract.

No County time is allowed to be used to prepare for or work on a response to a County RFP.

The 2011 settlement agreement from the Katie A. v. Bontà case sought systemic reform in the provision of mental health services for foster children and youth. The passage of AB 403 Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) in 2015 further aimed to reform the foster care system in California by limiting the number of foster children placed in group homes and the amount of time they spend there. Following these two mandates, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Medi-Cal Manual for Intensive Care Coordination, In Home Based Services and Therapeutic Foster Care was developed to guide counties in promoting more intensive services for foster children and youth who meet specialty mental health medical necessity criteria.

The TFC service model allows for the provision of short-term, intensive, highly coordinated, trauma informed services to children and youth who have complex emotional and behavioral needs. Under this model, the trained TFC parent serves a key role in the delivery of trauma-informed interventions for the foster child or youth under the close supervision of one of the FFA’s licensed clinicians.

These services will be funded by Medi-Cal EPSDT, a comprehensive and preventive child health program for individuals under the age of 21.