Crisis Staffing Services

The Vermont Department for Children and Families’ (DCF) mission is to foster the healthy development, safety, well-being, and self-sufficiency of Vermonters. The Department is structured around six Divisions that deliver programs and services to Vermonters; one of those Divisions is the Family Services Division (FSD). FSD’s vision is that Vermont’s children and youth live free from abuse, neglect, and delinquency – in resilient families that are supported and valued by their communities. FSD’s mission is to engage families, foster and kin caregivers, partner agencies, and the community to increase safety and law abidance for Vermont children and youth. As part of its vision and mission work, FSD seeks to provide safe and reliable supervision and transportation for youth in the care and/or custody of DCF. Many of these youth need supports and services offered by placements outside of a home setting (i.e. residential treatment programs,). Historically, when there was a need for

placement there would be programmatic options to meet the needs youth. With the current system of care there are times when there are not placements available to meet the needs of a youth. In these circumstances, emergency staffed supervision of youth in safe and secure alternative locations is necessary. Emergency staffing in an alternative location takes the place of an appropriate placement in a licensed, residential treatment facility. Residential programs are operated by community organizations that have specific expertise and structures, and FSD does not have the expertise, training, nor licensure to run such programs. The need for emergency staffing to provide this supervision of youth in alternative locations is necessitated by the loss of residential bed capacity over the past four years. FSD is seeking to enter into a contract or contracts with one or more vendors to provide 24/7 on-call staffing and/or supplemental staffing to provide emergency supervision of youth in the care and/or custody of DCF that are in an alternative placement setting instead of a licensed residential treatment program due to lack of placement resources or child/youth disruption from such a placement. For the purposes of this RFP, FSD anticipates a staffing need for each request of one supplemental staff OR a team of two to provide crisis response supervision, depending on the unique needs of each request and availability of additional supports. FSD anticipates the following staffing levels are needed to fulfill the services outlined in this RFP: approximately one Behavior Specialist Fulltime Equivalent (FTE) per 24-hour period, comprised of approximately 4.4 Behavior Specialist staff. Transporting youth between locations (i.e. a police station to the temporary location) will be involved. For the purposes of this RFP, it is estimated that each month there will be a need for 1,250-1,400 hours of staffing, and this staffing may include, but is not limited to, 3-day shifts, 24 hour shifts, and overnight staffing; these estimates are for informational purposes only and not guaranteed hours or staffing shift needs as the actual number of requests for supervision may be higher or lower and the length of time for each request may be shorter or longer.