413-330-1110 Scope (1) The Department's prioritization of preventative and community-based services has placed an increased emphasis on providing the children and young adults and their caregivers with community based, culturally specific and individualized services in a timely manner. These services are often necessary to safely maintain the child or young adult within or return the child or young adult to the home of a parent or family member or to stabilize the child or young adult in lower levels of Resource Care. The child or young adult’s needs may be most appropriately met by a nontraditional contractor, who is often known to the child or young adult or their family. (2) In cases where a nontraditional contractor is being requested, the child or young adult’s caseworker is responsible for documenting the child or young adult’s strengths and needs, which should be collaboratively identified by the following parties: (a) The child or young adult, if appropriate; (b) The primary caregiver; (c) Parent(s)/Members of the child or young adult’s family; (d) Household members in addition to the primary caregiver; (e) Teachers/Other service providers, such as medical professionals and therapists; (f) Employees of the Department who have knowledge of the child or young adult; and (g) Other interested individuals as identified by the child or young adult or their guardian. (3) Once the child or young adult’s strengths and needs are identified, the caseworker must rule out all other funding streams and service options to meet those needs. If no other services are available to meet the child or young adult’s needs, the caseworker can request FOCUS funding. For FOCUS short form contracts, services to be provided must be specifically related to one or more of the following domains: (4) Home & placement stability to prevent placement into care or disruption from the current community-based placement by providing stabilization services. (5) Reunification to facilitate the child or young adult's return home and preserve the continuity of family relationships and permanency for the child or young adult. (6) Transition supports to assist the child or young adult by providing additional support during times of transition between placements, especially when the child or young adult is moving from a higher to lower level of care. (7) Well-being to facilitate the child or young adult's well-being by ensuring the child or young adult receives adequate and appropriate services to meet medical, physical, mental health, social, emotional-development, or educational needs which are unable to be met through other systems or funding streams. (8) The FOCUS-funded short-form process expedites the Department's contracting by: (a) Providing nonresidential services to meet the needs of a child or young adult in the care of the Department. (b) Increasing the resource pool of service contractors by allowing the use of both traditional and nontraditional contractors. (c) Providing more timely delivery of services. (d) Increasing the Department’s ability to utilize contractors who are known to child or young adult and caregiver, allowing for an additional level of continuity, comfort and trauma-informed engagement. This also increases the ability to utilize contractors who are members of the child or young adult’s community and culture whenever possible. (9) A FOCUS short-form contract may be used when the following conditions are met: (a) Funds are available and authorized for the specific child or young adult and type of service to be served by the contract, and the cost is reasonable and commensurate with the cost of similar services. (b) The contractor is a nontraditional contractor. (10) The services are: (a) Provided for a specific child or young adult who is designated to receive FOCUS-funded services; (b) Provided to meet the specific outlined needs of the child or young adult; (c) Provided according to a service plan that includes strategies for measuring outcomes; (d) Nonresidential; (e) Expected to be no more than 12 months in length. The expectation is that the mutually agreed-upon outcomes will be reached within that time period. Exceptions to this length of time must be approved by the Department’s Treatment Services Manager or Designee; and (f) Not to exceed the contract financial limits set by the ODHS Child Welfare Treatment Services Program and documented within the FOCUS Program Manual and the FOCUS Short Form contract Template, which has been approved by the ODHS Designated Procurement Officer. (11) The contracted services do not include: (a) Services the child or young adult is eligible to receive that are available from another public agency or institution or from a private contractor under an existing contract; or (b) Services that are not specifically pre-authorized within the contract, including services provided prior to the date of authorization. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 409.050 & ORS 418.005 Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 30.260-30.300, ORS 279A.055-279A.155, ORS 409.010, ORS 670.600 & ORS 806.060 History: CWP 8-2022, adopt filed 06/01/2022, effective 06/01/2022