2-Attach 2B Offers Experience and Capacity Casa D'Amore Family Care.pdf

Solicitation Instructions Part 2

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 31 of 47 2 o n l i n e a t : A P P . A Z . g o v

Offer Forms

Request for Proposal Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts 3003 N. Central Avenue, 20th Floor

Phoenix, AZ 85012

Attachment 2-B

Offeror’s Experience and Capacity

The Offeror is cautioned that it is the Offeror's sole responsibility to submit information related to the evaluation categories and that the State of Arizona is under no obligation to solicit such information if it is not included with the Offeror's proposal. Failure of the Offeror to submit such information may cause an adverse impact on the evaluation of the Offeror's proposal. It is strongly discouraged for you to copy the Scope of Work in lieu of providing unique responses below.

OFFER MAY BE DETERMINED AS NON-RESPONSIVE IF ALL QUESTIONS ARE NOT ANSWERED FULLY.

Question 1: Describe the Entity’s experience providing parenting time services, including the number of years of experience, history and capability.

Offeror Response:

Casa D’Amore Family Care (CDFC) has served ADCS in the capacity of managing Congregate Care Group Homes for over 30 years. Our contracts have been exclusively with CPS/ADCS, respectively. In 2017, we decided to explore the Supervised Visitation contract. We felt confident our agency could successfully provide families with assistance that would support them moving toward reunification through supervised visitation due to our extensive experience with both ADCS and children in congregate care working toward reunification or kinship placement. Our agency, while managing our congregate care homes, has helped manage the supervised visitation of children in our care while being in the role of placement, allowing us to understand that side of the visitation process. We have developed positive community relationships with many of the provider agencies in Pima County, both for congregate care and supervised visitation. Our CEO has served on Leadership Teams with the Department of Child Safety and served on the Congregate Care Leadership Team at the state DCS office.

Our current Program Supervisor started with our agency as a Case Aide, a position she held for over two years before being promoted to Assistant Supervisor. She held that position for an additional 2 ½ years before being promoted to Program Supervisor. She has now been our Program Supervisor for close to a year. Our Assistant Supervisor worked her way up from her initial position as a Case Aide for 2 ½ years before being promoted to Assistant Supervisor. She has now been the Assistant Supervisor for close to a year. We have several Case Aides who have been with the company more than 2 years. This stability of personnel continues to help CDFC maintain consistency and excellence in its processes and service to our participants.

In July 2017, we received our contract for Supervised Visitation Services. We have served the SVO program with competence and consistency in Pima County for the past 7 years. We have a contracted minimum capacity of 22. In 2022, we managed an average of 42.1 cases per month (20 cases above our capacity). In 2023, we have managed 42.8 cases per month. In 2024 we fluctuated between 45-50 cases per month. The move to take on a higher capacity was in response to ADCS’s request to help reduce the waitlist. We immediately responded, implementing the burndown initiative and carrying as many as 55 cases at times to help manage the waitlist. Once the waitlist was stabilized, we continued to keep our caseload at approximately 50 depending on how many cases were available from the

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 32 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts 3003 N. Central Avenue, 20th Floor

Phoenix, AZ 85012 referral unit. Our goal going forward is to consistently carry a capacity of 48 to meet current Pima County caseload needs and we will be in position to manage this capacity at the new contract go live date.

Our system of accountability provides our Case Aides with ongoing support and oversight of the visitations from the initial assignment of a referral to closure of a case. Training is provided for Case Aides that includes SOW expectations necessary to meet contract requirements. All paperwork submitted by our Case Aides related to case documentation goes through a quality control process including a final review by our Assistant Supervisor prior to filing into the Guardian system. Daily review of timelines and deadlines helps keep us in compliance with contractual expectations and provides support to our Case Aides should they fall behind or need assistance. Any emails or communications involving circumstances that will affect a case, or communications with ADCS, are copied to our supervisor for follow-up and review. Our program utilizes a teamwork philosophy, and all Case Aides feel supported as they deal with case management and any difficult issues that may emerge.

We use a secure, cloud-based email and communication system that provides insight into the daily workings of each Case Aide’s visitations for the day. Utilizing internal quality control measures help support the successful day to day operation of our visitation program.

We have always met and operated beyond our contracted capacity to meet waitlist demands. We will request increased capacity in this new contract. We feel confident we have the infrastructure, experience and resilience to meet any growth or fluctuation in case capacity.

Question 2: Provide a detailed plan of how your agency will be ready to serve cases on the go-live date, after award. The response shall at a minimum describe and provide a response for each of the following bullet points listed below:

§ Provide the anticipated number of referrals your agency expects to have the capacity to serve on the first day of contract implementation.

§ Does your agency anticipate an increase in capacity throughout the contract term? If yes, describe your plan for scaling up, including timelines, staffing, and resource allocation.

§ Describe how your agency tracks and manages service capacity and the progression of referrals (cases) in real-time. What tools, systems, or processes do you use to ensure timely scheduling and service delivery?

Offeror Response:

Our agency is currently serving over our contracted capacity on the current SVO contract and has been doing so for the past five years. Our history and experience have been excellent and consistent in compliance with the contract’s Scope of Work. We have high standards of service delivery and provide our participants with support, accommodation of their needs, collaborative and culturally sensitive

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 33 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts communication and continual monitoring toward final goals of reunification. We are confident in our program delivery.

• We assess our capacity in the new contract on the go live date will be 48 cases. This capacity is negotiable if ADCS would prefer a higher capacity limit.

This S.O.W. specifies weekly visitation hours can be assigned and change throughout the term of the referral from 1 to 8 hours per week, supervision levels can vary, and transportation related to multiple placements for one case may be complicated. As a result, our agency recognizes flexibility will be essential to our scheduling plan to meet the dynamics of case demands as they come up. Our agency will respond to this contract by staffing up the number of trained Case Aides in our agency to appropriately meet the new contract demands and create availability and flexibility in our case assignment. Our goal in managing cases has always been to provide each case a committed Case Aide to create stable and supportive relationships. Having flexibility in our Case Aide assignments will help us to maintain stability while still meeting the demands of changing case hours. Casa D’Amore Family Care will communicate with ADCS regarding any cases that require specifics outside of the normal case management, such as the use of multiple Case Aides for one case, multiple transport needs when several children from varied placements and out of county travel requirements or travel beyond 200 miles.

• We expect to meet our capacity goal and have the flexibility to provide service beyond our capacity if ADCS need arises. We have consistently served beyond our capacity in the current contract when wait lists demanded action from the agencies in Pima County. In 2023 we were able to conduct "burn down" initiatives at the request of ADCS, and all cases were serviced within the contracted timeline. Our agency keeps real time data on all our cases, continually assessing, evaluating and anticipating when extensions or increases in case hours may affect changing capacity.

This continual pulse on agency service needs prepares us to manage any concerns that may arise to meet the changing progression of referrals. We address changes through utilizing flexible scheduling and providing our Case Aides with opportunities to make up lagging hours due to canceled or closed cases. Our biggest ongoing challenge is staff retention, especially in Tucson and Pima County where the minimum wage went up again in 2025. Pima County's minimum wage is higher than other neighboring counties and higher than the state minimum wage, making it more difficult to compete with less specialized employment that has an equal hourly pay scale. We continually recruit new staff, as needed, and offer support and consideration of our current staff’s needs to help reduce turnover. An example is allowing a staff member to work specific days and times that work for their schedule and carefully assigning cases that coincide and coordinate with their needs. We find this consideration increases staff retention and does not affect the outcome of assigning cases that fit the participant's visitation scheduling needs. As stated above, we have consistently been managing cases above our capacity and are therefore designed to manage 48 cases on the contract’s go live date with adequate staffing and allocated resources. Our agency has always been able to manage resource changes without having it affect our consistency in meeting contract requirements.

Our administration staff is trained to manage cases, if needed, for last minute situations and our more flexible part-time staff will fill in any gaps until we have hired new staff. These swift and responsive processes keep our agency in compliance and our families served.

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 34 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts 3003 N. Central Avenue, 20th Floor

Phoenix, AZ 85012

• Our agency maintains an ongoing daily tracking system of all active and closed cases. A report of active and closed cases is provided to the CEO each week. Our Assistant Supervisor checks in daily with all Case Aides to monitor daily case visits and cancelations. If cases cancel or no show, our Assistant or Supervisor steps in to assist the staff in determining next steps.

Responses may include scheduling make-up visits and/or communication with the participants and ADCS to facilitate problem solving and make-up visits. Our staff is well-trained and responsive, always keeping all involved parties informed of current case management issues. We utilize a calendar system to document daily case management, and our agency also uses a confidential cloud-based messaging app that allows for live communication with all staff in case a visitation room opens, a case cancels, a vehicle is available for use, or a Case Aide needs help covering a case. This mobile application (SLACK) is confidential and provides real time communication and feedback as well as the opportunity for direction to be provided to all staff or to individual staff. In addition, our Assistant Supervisor and Supervisor track case progression and send reminders to staff as cases near closure dates to allow time for extensions to be processed with ADCS Case Managers.

Casa D'Amore Family Care utilizes both a referral tracker and an active case tracker system, regularly updated by both the Program Supervisor and Assistant Supervisor.

Upon receipt of a referral from ADCS, the Program Supervisor or Assistant Supervisor enters the relevant details into the referral tracker. The data is entered within 24 hours, including the associated SA# and CS#, as well as the referral start and end dates.

Once a case is received, it is added to the active case tracker, which contains key information such as the respective SA#, CS#, referral dates, assigned Case Aide and their contact information, their supervisor’s contact information, and the total number of active cases. This tracker also includes any extensions granted and updated units. It also logs the date when the referral is officially closed.

These trackers enable management to monitor the status of cases, ensuring that communication occurs in a timely manner, including alerting 30 days prior to the referral’s conclusion to inquire with the assigned ADCS Specialist about the possibility of service continuation.

All data related to case information and tracking is stored in a secure, cloud-based data system that requires passwords to access.

Within the first 24 hours, the Case Aide initiates contact with the family, initially by phone, followed by alternative methods, if necessary, as outlined in the Scope of Work (SOW).

The Case Aide schedules the first visit within five business days of the initial referral.

Any challenges encountered by the Case Aide are discussed with the Program Supervisor or Assistant Supervisor and may require communication with the assigned ADCS Specialist. Case Aides are required to contact ADCS via email within 24 hours of receiving a case to request any additional information necessary to ensure the safety of the children during visits. All attempts to contact the family are diligently recorded in our contact logs. The Parenting Time Specialist ensures that ADCS is kept informed about the case’s progress and is included in all communications related to case visitation and

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 35 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts 3003 N. Central Avenue, 20th Floor

Phoenix, AZ 85012 planning. All scheduled visits are communicated by secure email to the ADCS specialist within 3 business days and documented in the Summary of Parenting Time form.

Using our secure system, our active case tracker is updated daily to enable the agency to monitor the completion of visits by each case aide. This includes tracking cancelled or rescheduled visits, as well as instances of no-shows. This system allows management to ensure that services are being provided in accordance with court orders.

Additionally, it facilitates the identification of any patterns related to cancellations or no-shows, which can then be communicated directly to ADCS for further action.

Casa D’Amore Family Care has staff available Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (except on legal holidays) to receive and assign SA’s. Service delivery, however, occurs both within and outside of these hours, including evenings and weekends, to meet contract requirements. Efforts are made to coordinate holiday visits if requested by the participants.

Question 3: Provide examples of challenges your agency has encountered in parenting time services and how you addressed them. Include challenges with maintaining contract capacity, if applicable.

Casa D’Amore Family Care has always (in the past 7 years) maintained or operated beyond contracted capacity. We have only had one incident of returning a case to the referral unit. It was a case that required several case aides to manage the multiple placements. Simultaneously, when the case was received, we lost three Case Aides unexpectedly: one due to a medical issue, and the other two left for personal reasons without notice. This meant we quickly had to reassign 14 of our current cases. Both our Supervisor and Assistant Supervisor picked up full-time caseloads to manage the disruption. This situation was explained to the referral unit and they took the case back to reassign to another agency since we had originally accepted the case over our contracted capacity. The case was not started before it was returned. We were able to hire new staff within two weeks to manage our cases, and we never had to return any of our current cases to manage the staffing disruption. Since this situation we have implemented processes that make it less likely for this type of situation to result in a returned referral again. This includes hiring a few more part-time employees and keeping two employees on staff as “on-call” employees to help with unexpected situations that may require assisted coverage and last-minute responses.

There are times when the agency receives a new referral that lacks accurate contact information for both parents and out-of-home caregivers. Additionally, referrals often don't include essential details, such as the reason for the child's removal, behavioral issues of parents or children, health concerns, allergies, restrictions, or placement will provide information not included on referrals. This issue is resolved by promptly following up with the ongoing ADCS specialist via secure email to inquire about the necessary information. Despite the Case Aide’s timely and effective communication, ADCS does not always respond within 24 hours via email, so staff will communicate by phone or with supervisors to expedite the process.

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 36 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

Once families are contacted, scheduling issues often arise, such as families requesting scheduling that is not offered in the current referral, placement dictating Parenting Time schedules that may not coincide with the participant’s schedule, or multiple children placed in different homes requiring specialized transportation scheduling. To resolve these scheduling problems, both the Supervisor and Assistant Supervisor help Case Aides create a schedule that works for all parties, sometimes sharing a case between two staff. For pickups involving multiple children from different out-of-home caregivers or other locations, Case Aides reach out to management to assign additional staff to ensure timely and issue-free transportation. There have also been communication issues with placements, such as last-minute changes to pick-up times, which cause delays in starting visits on time. At times, our agency receives cases where parents and/or children are out of the county. Contracted transportation services have not been reliable, causing families to miss their scheduled parenting time. Our Case Aides have the transportation service’s phone number to communicate directly with them and ensure timely pick-ups for visits and will initiate 24-hour reminders with transportation agencies to assist in timely responses.

Other issues with Parenting Time arise when a case is not active or consistent, which has been communicated to ADCS. We help the family by adjusting their schedule to enable more consistent attendance. For example, if a family has visits twice a week for 2 hours but only attends once a week, we request adjusting their schedule to once a week for 4 hours instead.

Some other challenges our agency has faced revolve around visits that are conducted either in the community or in the home setting. As such, we have developed protocols, based on experience, to anticipate and prevent challenging scenarios from developing. This proactive approach increases the success and satisfaction experienced by participants in the visits and allows visits to continue in the least restrictive environment. These protocols include reviewing visit guidelines with participants prior to the visit, sending texts with do’s and don’ts, asking ADCS to speak directly to participants regarding the above, and if necessary, requesting to staff the case with all parties involved. If these efforts do not resolve the concerns, then moving the visits to the agency or placing other restrictions on visits may result.

Our agency policy is to never return a case. We consider all possible interferences in case management to assure that any case we accept can be serviced to the end of its term. Our staff understands this philosophy and expectation. We train our staff to understand the importance of consistent service delivery and strategies to reduce the likelihood of canceled or no-show outcomes.

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 37 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts 3003 N. Central Avenue, 20th Floor

Phoenix, AZ 85012

Question 4: Describe your agency's experience in partnering with Child Welfare entities and/or other related fields, including examples that required collaboration and coordination.

Our agency has experience in partnering with the Department of Child Safety and other service providers related to a child’s case, such as mental health agencies, mentors, court appointed advocates, day care and schools, and family/foster members. In many cases, we are asked to communicate with ADCS and family members to coordinate services and/or visits that support a family’s reunification process. The following identifies situations where our Case Aides and/or Casa D’Amore Family Care agency coordinates with and facilitates partnering with other agencies:

• Coordinate communication between participants and placement, especially if the placement is not on friendly terms with the participant

• Attend CFT’s (Child Family Team Meetings)

• Help an adult participant reach out for services outside of our scope of work if the participant has tried other avenues or experiences lack of follow up communication with other service providers.

• Provide opportunities for participant and placement to communicate and problem solve issues related to a child that effects the child’s visitation, such as behavioral issues, children not wanting to attend a visit, or a parent experiencing communication issues with ADCS or the placement.

• Provide community resources and outreach for services related to the case, participant or children involved in the case. This includes having handouts, phone numbers and informational flyers available at our agency for participants.

• Respond to court requests for documentation, feedback or details related to a case.

• Providing an unhoused participant with avenues to problem solve transportation issues.

Our agency served a case that was out of Ajo, AZ, a small border town on the edge of Pima County.

Transport to the town was a two-hour drive one way, including transporting the children from Tucson.

The Case Aide and children originally were trying to hold the visits at a local park because the weekend visits did not allow available time at a library or other public venue in such a small town. The result was hot, uncomfortable and the monsoon rains interrupted visits that were not reasonable for the time of day the visits needed to take place. After gaining approval from the ADCS Case Manager, we solicited the town and the school for space to hold the visitation. Our Program Supervisor reached out to the public school the children attended. The participant could not hold the meetings during the school week, so we worked with the school to gain access to the building keys and were able to hold the visitations in the school building during the summer month of August so we could have an air-conditioned space and small playground nearby. We coordinated with the school janitor to get the gate unlocked and locked back up once the visit was over, since it was a weekend visit. Together, the town

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 2-B Page 38 of 47 2

Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts and agency were able to monitor productive and successful visits for the children in an environment where they felt safe and secure. In addition, our communication with the school helped to create awareness and support for the children outside our scheduled visitation time. When the case ended, our agency provided a thank you to the school staff who helped along with a small gift of our gratitude.

We use this case as an example of what a "community visit" is and how the collaborative attitudes and willingness of our agency and the community agencies can produce positive and successful outcomes.

End of Attachment 2-B