Therapeutic Foster Care Services

The County of Tuolumne, through its Health and Human Services Agency, Tuolumne County Behavioral Health (TCBH), hereinafter referred to as the “County”, is requesting proposals from qualified Foster Family Agencies (FFAs) interested in providing, facilitating, and overseeing Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) services for the priority population: children and youth under the age of 21 placed in foster care by the Tuolumne County Department of Child Welfare Services (CWS) or  Tuolumne County Probation Department (TCPD), who meet medical necessity for specialty mental health services (SMHS), and are at risk of entering a higher level of care, or are stepping down from a higher level of care.

TCBH intends to award one or more Services as Needed (SAN) contracts to the respondents selected as the most responsive and whose responses conform to the Request for Proposal (RFP) and meets the County requirements.

TCBH reserves the right to conduct interviews with anyone who submits a proposal before making a final decision.

Proposals shall form the basis for any subsequent awarded contract. TCBH reserves the right to dissolve a contract if/when awarded Contractor materially alters staff, deliverables and/or outcomes any time after the contract award.

California law and federal law provide specific employment restrictions for retirees and/or current County employees that desire to contract with the County. 

For CalPERS retirees: if the work you will perform as a contractor is the same or similar to work you performed as an active employee or is work that is performed by active employees, it is most likely subject to the PERS retired annuitant restrictions, meaning the employment is disallowed and the County will not be able to enter into a contract with you. 

For current County employees: California and federal law prohibit a current employee from contracting with its employer while being an active employee.  If an employee is interested in becoming an independent contractor, the employee must consider separation from employment with the County, however should the employee retire, he/she may be subject to the CalPERS retired annuitant laws.  Should a current County employee respond to a RFP while in active employment status, the employee must separate from employment prior to award of the contract. 

No County time is allowed to be used to prepare for or work on a response to a County RFP. 

Background

The 2011 settlement agreement from the Katie A. v. Bontà case sought systemic reform in the provision of mental health services for foster children and youth. The passage of AB 403 Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) in 2015 further aimed to reform the foster care system in California by limiting the number of foster children placed in group homes and the amount of time they spend there. Following these two mandates, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Medi-Cal Manual for Intensive Care Coordination, In Home Based Services and Therapeutic Foster Care was developed to guide counties in promoting more intensive services for foster children and youth who meet specialty mental health medical necessity criteria.

The TFC service model allows for the provision of short-term, intensive, highly coordinated, trauma informed services to children and youth who have complex emotional and behavioral needs. Under this model, the trained TFC parent serves a key role in the delivery of trauma-informed interventions for the foster child or youth under the close supervision of one of the FFA’s licensed clinicians.

These services will be funded by Medi-Cal EPSDT, a comprehensive and preventive child health program for individuals under the age of 21.

Project Details

• Reference ID: RFP-2025-0114
• Department: Behavioral Health Department
• Department Head: Tami Mariscal (Behavioral Health Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-04-06T19:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Completeness of Proposal (15 pts)
• Qualifications (35 pts)
• Service Delivery/Methodology (20 pts)
• Reasonable Cost of Service (30 pts)

Submission Requirements

• Proposal Elements (required) —

  Proposals are to be straightforward, clear, concise and responsive to the information requested. In order for proposals to be considered complete, proposers must provide all requested information.
  
  Each proposer must submit their response online via the County’s e-Procurement platform:
  https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/tuolumnecountyca
  
  4.1. Proposal Elements*
  
  A. Statement of Qualifications:
  
  Up to three (3) pages are allowed for narrative, not including attachments. Please include the following information

  • Detail your education history, including the following:
    
    • School name and address
    • Dates attended
    • Diplomas/degrees obtained
    • Attach proof of California licensure

  B. Scope of Services:

  • Describe how you will approach providing, facilitating, and overseeing Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) services.
  • Describe your ability to perform Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) services.
  • Describe how the proposed services will ensure continued compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
  • Provide a timeline for implementation of the required services, including readiness to provide services upon the signing of a contract

  C. Past & Present Performance
  
  Provide a list of current and former work experiences that demonstrate your ability to perform the services solicited for the target population described herein. This list will serve as a list of references.
  
  The County may contact some or all of the references provided. The County also reserves the right to contact references other than those provided in the proposal and to use the information gained from them in the evaluation process.

• Proposal Cost (required) —

  For each year of the proposed initial contract period, outline your total costs, including your costs for each service requested in Section Two (Scope of Services) if this RFP. Proposers must list any charges or costs associated with the Scope of Services. Any fees and charges not disclosed in the proposal will not be paid upon invoice.

• Can you provide a brief overview of your company's experience in delivering simliar services?
• Pricing (required) —

  Select the option that best suits the pricing needs for this solicitation.

  • An Electronic Pricing Tableallows vendors to enter pricing directly into the system, and the system can automatically tabulate pricing results and provide pricing analysis.
  • A Separate Pricing Document will not be automatically tabulated. It will be received by each respondent as a document upload that will need to be evaluated manually.
• Do you know what the Initial Term will be for the Contract? (required) —

  Adjust the sentence below as needed.

• Initial Term (required) —

  The term of the initial contract awarded under this RFP will be for _________________. (Enter the number of years/months in the following format ex: one (1) two (2) week)

• Initial Term (required)
• Extensions (required) —

  Allow extensions for the resulting agreement?

• Extension Options (required) —

  By mutual agreement, this contract may be extended for ______________, under the following circumstances. (Enter the number of years/months in the following format ex: one (1) two (2) week)

• Termination (required) —

  Please select the number of "days" appropriate in the blank space of the sentence below:

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  Does this project and/or service require any of the following insurance provisions?