On September 24, 2024, your UPE team met with the County in regard to extending the contract for CFTs with Pacific Clinics for youth already in foster care and entering into a new contract with Victor Community Services (VCS) to facilitate PCFTs and ongoing CFTs to youth in care at the Welcome Homes.
Your UPE team had many questions, such as what are the job descriptions of the Facilitator and the Engager, and what are the qualifications necessary to hold those positions? The department responded by informing us that they are not responsible for that and that it is in the hands of the respective agencies. In other words, they did not know. UPE wanted to know what, if any, training would occur and if it was expected for the current Facilitator to provide said training; also, would the Facilitator for the PCFTs be completing the ROI as the current Facilitator does? CPS disclosed that VCS would go through training at UC Davis and that the completion of the ROI should have been done by the requesting Social Worker, so it will go back to them. UPE quickly asked who was paying for this training, to which the department, in a roundabout way, stated they would; this information was conveniently omitted from the cost analysis received by UPE. In our opinion, the cost analysis was not thorough; if this was left off, we can't help but wonder what else was omitted.
We also wanted to know the timeframe for implementation; there is none yet, as the department needs to meet with all labor first, and this also has to go before the Board of Supervisors. With that said, the department expects implementation to occur sometime in the coming year.
Thank you, Sarah Singleton and Eric Booker for your advocacy!
