Approve seventh amendment to Agreement No. 22-110 with UC Davis CAARE Center to reduce funding by $35,000 for Fiscal Year 2025-26 for a new contract maximum of $105,000 for the period of January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2026, for the provision of bonding and risk assessment and psychological evaluation services to align with projected actuals. (No general fund impact) (Morales)

Approve seventh amendment to Agreement No. 22-110 with UC Davis CAARE Center to reduce funding by $35,000 for Fiscal Year 2025-26 for a new contract maximum of $105,000 for the period of January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2026, for the provision of bonding and risk assessment and psychological evaluation services to align with projected actuals.

On or about May 24, 2022, Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) and UC Davis CAARE Center (“the Parties”) entered into an Agreement to provide Bonding Assessment services. Bonding Assessments assess the nature and quality of children’s attachment relationships to his or her birth parents, siblings, or caregiver, including identification of who is the primary attachment figure for a child and the quality of that relationship.  Bonding Assessments explore the children’s capacity for a secure attachment and if a designated parent or caregiver can meet the child’s needs regarding nurture, structure, engagement, and opposition. Bonding Assessments also explore who is central in children’s emotional life and determine the quality of that relationship. Bonding Assessments can identify if the primary attachment can be transferred to a new caregiver and/or emotional and psychological risks or benefits to the children if the relationship with a caregiver or parent is severed.  Bonding Assessments identify any secondary attachment figures, and the quality of the relationships with secondary attachment figures. Lastly, a bonding assessment may provide recommendations for mental health treatment.

Since then, the Agreement has been amended multiple times to add additional services such as Risk Assessment and Psychological Evaluations Services, extend the term of the Agreement, add funding and update contract language. Risk and psychological evaluations are clinical assessments used to inform child safety, service planning, and decision-making. Risk evaluations focus on identifying and analyzing the likelihood and severity of potential harm by examining historical factors, current safety indicators, caregiver functioning, and protective factors, resulting in clinical risk rather than a diagnosis. Psychological evaluations assess an individual’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning through clinical interviews and standardized measures to determine mental health status, functional capacity, and treatment needs, particularly as they relate to parenting ability and responsiveness to services. In child welfare contexts, both evaluations are intended to assess factors that may impact a caregiver’s ability to provide safe and stable care and often overlap with relational and functional domains addressed through bonding assessments.

Risk and psychological evaluations were determined to be largely encompassed within the bonding assessments previously described. Bonding assessments provide comprehensive evaluation of attachment, relational functioning, caregiver capacity, child safety indicators, and psychosocial risk factors, thereby addressing the core clinical objectives of separate risk and psychological evaluations. Given this substantive overlap, maintaining full funding for parallel assessment services was not clinically or fiscally warranted. The adjustment allows for efficient use of limited resources while ensuring that assessment practices remain evidence-based, clinically sound, and sufficient to inform case planning and judicial or administrative decision-making.

HHSA requests approval of this Seventh Amendment to reduce funding by $35,000 for fiscal year 2025-26 to align with projected actuals. The reduction in funding is to align with contract expenditures to demonstrate service utilization. Funding levels were recalibrated to correspond with the narrowed scope of work, ensuring that resources are proportionate to the services required and delivered. This reduction does not compromise assessment quality or clinical integrity; rather, it prevents duplication of services and allows limited funds to be redirected to areas of greater unmet need. The reallocation supports system-wide efficiency, maintains compliance with evidence-based practice standards, and ensures continued capacity to meet decision-making requirements.

Performance Measures
Performance Measures are not associated with this Agreement.

County Counsel has approved this Amendment as to form.
Department of General Services, Procurement Division

On May 26,2022, the then acting Yolo County Procurement Manager or designee approved a sole source procurement for these services. A sole source was deemed appropriate for these services because the provider has the expertise to provide the mandated services under the agreement to Child Welfare Services (CWS) referred children. The Center specializes in serving traumatized youth and has the expertise to assess child and parent relationships, which these services are ordered by the Yolo County Juvenile Court. Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) experienced difficulties in the past in locating child psychologists that accept Medi-Cal and this is not an issue with UC Davis.