Approve agreement with Yolo County Children’s Alliance in the amount of $286,569 from September 12, 2023 through June 30, 2024 for the provision of alternative response services for the Family Check-Up Program. (No general fund impact) (Sullivan)

Approve agreement with Yolo County Children’s Alliance in the amount of $286,569 from September 12, 2023 through June 30, 2024 for the provision of alternative response services for the Family Check-Up Program.

Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) issued an RFP to seek a qualified Community-Based Organization to provide Alternative Response (AR) services. “Alternative Response” services are similar to HHSA’s prior iteration of “Differential Response” services. HHSA’s AR program will provide culturally relevant services to promote families developing protective factors in the context of an AR family support program including, but not limited to, home visiting and/or parent education. The goal is to improve outcomes for both Yolo County families and the community by working towards identifying supports and providing culturally relevant services that help increase the Five Protective Factors of the Strengthening Families approach.

Differential or Alternative Response (AR) is a strategy that allows a California child welfare services (CWS) agency to respond in a more flexible manner to reports of child abuse or neglect. AR affords a customized approach based on an assessment of safety, risk and protective capacity that recognizes each family’s unique strengths and needs, and addresses these in an individualized manner rather than with a “one size fits all” approach.

The hallmark of AR is both its flexibility and family engagement, which act as an umbrella for the various responses and services. As AR provides earlier and more meaningful responses to emerging signs of family problems, CWS can utilize resources to help families before difficulties escalate and child removal is required. Under the AR approach, child safety is the highest priority as more children and families can receive the support they need to keep children safely in their homes.

The core elements of AR include a broad set of responses for working with families at the first signs of abuse/neglect, meaningful family engagement to ensure that needed changes are recognized and acted upon, and family support services. Family support and services are primarily community-based preventive activities designed to alleviate stress and to promote parental competency and behavior that will increase the ability of families to successfully nurture their children, to enable families to use other resources and opportunities that are available in the community, to create supportive networks that enhance childrearing abilities of parents, and to help compensate for the increased social isolation and vulnerability of families.

Supports and services provided shall be designed to improve family life, especially for overburdened families, focusing on enhancing family control over their lives while providing a process to educate and encourage families to take responsibility for their own progress. The provision of evidence-based practices and parent education services will support, enhance and encourage stable, healthy relationships among family members and will include working collaboratively with all community partners to bring resources and activities together into an integrated plan for services that are accessible, flexible, and responsive to participants. Services will include and engage the whole family to build the families’ skills and capacities, increase parenting knowledge and support, strengthen the parent-child bond, and link families with other families in the community.

Performance Measures included in this Agreement are as follows:
The Performance Measures associated with this Agreement are included in Attachment A, Exhibit F.
 

On December 8, 2022, the County via the Department of General Services, Procurement Division (GSD) [formerly Department of Financial Services, Procurement Division] issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) on behalf of the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) for Alternative Response Services. The solicitation was open for sixty (60) days. On December 21, 2022, GSD and HHSA offered potential bidders an opportunity to ask questions during a bidder’s conference. 

The County received four (4) proposal(s) from this solicitation.  GSD reviewed the proposals for minimum requirements and four (4) proposals were moved forward to the Review Committee, comprised of four (4) HHSA staff and one (1) other County staff.

The Review Committee evaluated the proposals and determined that the proposal submitted by Yolo County Children’s Alliance met all the required qualifications necessary to successfully provide these services.  In or about March 2023, the County issued an Intent to Award letter.

Additional information regarding the Competitive Bid Process is provided below, including a summary of the solicitation evaluation criteria.

Evaluation Criteria Included in RFP
Max Points = 100
A. Prior experience with Public Agency and/or California Counties – 25 points

1. Customer References (5 pts)
2. Qualifications and Experience
3. Demonstrated Competence
4. Quality and Completeness of Submitted Proposal

B. Quality, ability, capacity, and skill of the Proposer to perform the contract – 40 points

1. Project Schedule & Milestones
2. Proposer’s Approach to the Project
3. Financial Stability
4. Proposer’s Concept & Understanding of the County’s

C. Character, integrity, judgment, experience of the Proposer – 15 points
D. Cost of Service and Budget Detail – 20 points

Bids Received