Agenda - 10-03-2005-5o - Laserfiche WebLink

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The closing of Sheaffer House created an immediate need to develop alternative services for the children historically served there, A meeting was held on July 27, 2005, with representatives from social services, juvenile justice, mental health, and the county manager's office to discuss possible short and long term solutions to address this need. This group has continued to meet and has explored possibilities for local services including the use of therapeutic homes. Durham County has developed such a program that receives very positive feedback from its social services, mental health, and juvenile court agencies. Based on the information gathered by the Orange County group, a set of recommendations was developed: 1, Social Services and OPC should each pursue immediate contracts with Caring Family Networks, the same provider used by Durham County, for their specific needs for emergency care. Since all of the court counselors' clients are also mental health clients, their needs will be addressed through the mental health contract, Social Services would need a separate contract for children who are not part of the mental health system, Caring Family Network has estimated that it could provide some availability in nearby counties within two months of signing a contract and resources in Orange County in about five months. 2. The Community Collaborative, a group representing these agencies as well as others involved with planning for mental health services far children, will organize a meeting of all providers to assess the capacity for mental health developing more therapeutic resources in Orange County, This goal is broader than just providing emergency care. 3. Social Services will contract with OPC for apart-time liaison like the one used by juvenile court counselors. This will expedite referrals far mental health services and may prevent the need for as many emergency placements by Social Services. 4, Social Services will continue to use any available resources to serve its children during the development period, This has and will continue to result in children being placed out of the county and in additional costs for Social Services. Progress has already been made on several of these recommendations, Staff from OPC are already pursuing a contract for emergency services and hope tc be able to use existing mental health and Medicaid funds, Some of the Justice Partnerships funds may be needed to support their efforts. The meeting with providers to develop a broader range of services in Orange County has already been scheduled. The Commissioners are being asked to take actions that will allow for the implementation of the other recommendations, Social Services is requesting to use a portion of the funds previously designated for Sheaffer House to fund a contract between the County and OPC to provide apart-time liaison (employed by OPC) to assure that children who have mental health issues are identified earlier and receive appropriate services so as to avoid any unnecessary emergency situations and placements. The costs for this half time position for the remainder of the year would be $18,206. In addition, Social Services proposes to enter into a contract with Caring Family Network, the nonprofit organization currently serving Durham County, to provide emergency services in Orange County. The contract for emergency placements is expected to cost $89,568 for this year, starting with two homes in November and two additional homes in February. The costs include a retainer fee of $10,000 per year for exclusive availability of each home and the average daily costs of $80 plus the established board rate for each child. Although this is an expensive service, the costs currently charged by some of the emergency shelters used by