Q&A
Discussion on residential foster care funding and unmet needs
0:52:29
ยท
154 sec
Council Member Williams inquires about challenges faced by residential care providers in meeting the needs of older youth, such as prom attire and college support. Commissioner Dannhauser and Deputy Commissioner Mendez explain the funding streams available and efforts to ensure providers understand how to access and use these funds effectively.
- ACS is working to make sure providers understand all available funding streams and how to use them.
- There are ways to fund special purchases like prom attire without relying on private fundraising.
- ACS is having ongoing conversations with providers to clarify new contract expectations and ensure youth needs are met.
Nantasha M. Williams
0:52:29
Just have a few questions on residential foster care.
0:52:32
Mhmm.
0:52:34
And I feel like the last hearing, this sort of came up just around how, like, not all providers are created equal, and so some providers are doing raising private funds to supplement the work that they're doing, and some maybe don't do that.
0:52:48
So this question, I think, kinda falls in line with that, which is residential care providers have shared that under new contracts, there are still unmet needs for older youth.
0:53:01
This includes essentials from prom attire to financial support for youth attending college.
0:53:07
Providers often rely on private fundraising to cover these gaps.
0:53:10
Is ACS aware of these challenges?
0:53:12
Has the agency explored options to increase funding or providing or provide additional resources to address these needs?
Jess Dannhauser
0:53:18
Yeah.
0:53:19
I think a lot of the times so the residential rates are quite high.
0:53:24
Right?
0:53:24
So you're talking about sometimes a thousand dollars a day, but it it, goes into staffing ratios.
0:53:29
Right?
0:53:29
And so the more flexible dollars are what they're talking about, not always the amount.
0:53:34
DC Mendez and her team have been working with each provider to make sure they understand all of their budgets.
0:53:40
It's about eight different funding streams that go into a foster care budget, including some preventive dollars that we're able to match for youth development.
0:53:48
And so we're making sure they understand also that we have special purchases that they can make.
0:53:56
Young people should not having to be getting their prom dress through a private fundraiser.
0:54:01
And so there are ways to fund all that.
0:54:04
Sometimes there's gaps in how to do that.
0:54:06
Do you wanna speak about a little bit how you're trying to close that gap?
Nantasha M. Williams
0:54:11
Sure.
Ina Mendez
0:54:13
Good afternoon, council member.
0:54:14
So as the commissioner mentioned, within the division of family permanency services, we have a contract management team that works with the agency on their budgets and where they can leverage certain funds in terms of client services.
0:54:27
There's also with the new contracts, there's a area allows for some funding predictability.
0:54:33
So there's a little bit of a variance, if you will.
0:54:35
And so if they need to make certain purchases, they can use use those funds.
0:54:40
So we it's constant conversations.
0:54:42
As I mentioned earlier, it's a shift because this is different than how they did the the contracts before.
0:54:46
So it's a lot of, reiterating the new expectations and speaking to the right people.
0:54:52
And we can continue to have those conversations because, you know, everyone should have a prom dress, a tuxedo.
0:54:56
Whatever it is they need for these milestones in life, I wanna make sure everyone in foster care has, those opportunities.