Subject:
Title
Service Funding Agreement with WestCare Gulfcoast-Florida, Inc. for the Pinellas County Family Dependency Treatment Court grant award from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approval and execution by the County Administrator of the Service Funding Agreement with WestCare Gulfcoast-Florida, Inc. (Westcare) for Pinellas County Family Dependency Treatment Court Program.
Body
Strategic Plan:
Ensure Public Health, Safety and Welfare
2.2 Be a facilitator, convener, and purchaser of services for those in need
Summary:
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides funding opportunities for family drug court implementation and enhancement programs. Funding awarded to the County establishes a new Pinellas County Family Dependency Treatment Court Program and enhances the Sixth Judicial Circuit’s Unified Family Court. The program goals are to serve thirty (30) to thirty-five (35) individuals annually and reduce the incidence of substance use by participating parents, improve parenting skills, lower the incidence of drug exposed newborns and reduce reports of neglect or abuse.
Family Dependency Treatment Court is a voluntary, one-year program that involves recurrent appearances before a drug court judge, substance abuse assessment and treatment, parenting classes and frequent random drug testing. The agreement with Westcare Florida-Gulfcoast will provide substance-abusing parents with clinical supervision, counselling, substance abuse and mental health treatment and case management services.
Background/Explanation:
Pinellas County continues to see significant levels of addiction and substance abuse. According to a recent Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau bulletin released in October 2014, an estimated twelve percent (12%) of children under eighteen (18) years of age in the United States live with at least one parent who was dependent on or abused alcohol or an illicit drug during the past year. This number equates to approximately 8.3 million children. Eckerd Community Alternatives, which contracts with the Department of Children and Families to oversee foster care and adoptions for 3,400 children in the County, reports that in at least 75 percent of the cases their staff noted substance abuse as a major contributing factor leading to the filing of the dependency petition.
The three (3) year Family Dependency Treatment Court Program objectives are to lower the incidence of parental rights terminations for participating families, decrease the average time it takes to reunify a family and provide other ancillary services to parents to help bolster success.
Westcare will provide services as subrecipient for the grant program to include clinical supervision, counseling, substance abuse and mental health treatment, drug testing, case management, and mentoring.
Fiscal Impact:
The total grant award is $600,000.00 with an In-Kind match of $200,000. Westcare Florida-Gulfcoast agreement for the project period, October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2019, is $149,871.00 in Year 1, $171,282.00 in Year 2, and $171,282.00 in Year 3 for a total of $492,435.00. Their total In-kind match is $25,332.00. The Sixth Judicial Circuit is providing the balance of the In-Kind match of $174,668.00.
Delegated Authority:
Authority for the County Administrator to sign this agreement is granted under (Code Section 2-62 (a)(1).
Staff Member Responsible:
Lourdes Benedict, Director, Human Services
Partners:
Sixth Judicial Circuit
WestCare Gulfcoast-Florida, Inc.
Attachments:
Agreement with WestCare Gulfcoast-Florida, Inc.
Appendix A Grant Application
Appendix B Grant Budget
Appendix C Notice of Award
Appendix D Grant Funding Conditions
Appendix E Certifications
Attachment 1 Agreement Modification
Attachment 2 HIPAA Business Associate Agreement
Attachment 3 Insurance Requirements