2-Attachment 3-A Method of Approach 022425.docx

Attachment 3-A Method of Approach 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 steps that you will take to ensure you are meeting the staffing requirements and maintaining staff capacity. Include how you plan to ensure ongoing responsiveness to the requirements of the Contract and to the needs of the State in case of staff turnover for designated Key Personnel.

· Include staff turnover rate for the last year;

· Detail Entity’s recruitment process including average time to hire staff, and efforts to recruit and maintain staff.

Offeror Response:

Ensure AAI is meeting staffing requirements and maintaining staff capacity As soon as a staff gives notice, AAI goes into action by posting the position and reaching out to local networks. The Program Director routinely and preemptively searches for staff before staff positions come open, ensuring AAI is meeting staffing requirements resulting in minimal gaps or shortage of staff.

AAI’s Plan to ensure ongoing responsiveness to the requirements of the contract and needs of the State The Program Director and other administrative staff maintain a high level of communication with DCS staff when there are questions or clarification is needed. In addition, The Program Director calendars reporting requirements to ensure quarterly reports, monthly capacity reports, Parenting Time reports, discharge reports, and incident reports are submitted in a timely manner. AAI is responsive to issues identified during site visits, creating organizational change as needed to improve performance requirements and expectations. The Deputy Director and the Program Director develop program structure needed to respond to program requirements on an ongoing basis. For example, when staff were inadvertently exceeding authorized hours, a timesheet/authorization process was implemented that virtually eliminated the problem.

The Program Director is responsible for maintaining timely submittals, communication, documentation within the timeframes indicated in the Scope of Work. The Scope of Work is utilized to create/update internal procedures that will be regularly reviewed and updated. All staff will be trained on those procedures. Training will be documented in their personnel files.

AAI is responsive to the needs of the state by keeping abreast of those needs by participating in meetings pertaining to changes at DCS, or when the state is soliciting input from providers. Once DCS or the state has solidified decisions on going forward, AAI will review current AAI procedures to determine whether updates to those procedures are needed to ensure compliance. Staff will be trained on the new procedures so they maintain current awareness of changes in requirements and expectations by DCS or the state.

If there is turnover in key positions, AAI has developed a “back-up” system, where a designated staff member acts as the interim Program Director when the Program Director is not available. As a result, if there is turnover in that key position, AAI is already prepared to provide the same level of services, supports, supervision, reporting, etc. via the “back-up” Program Director.

AAI Staff Turnover Rate: 2024 The La Paloma program has a 15% turnover rate. In 2024, out of 13 staff employed, 2 left the organization.

AAI’s average time to hire staff Once an applicant has been identified, AAI completes a background check and an interview. On average, it takes approximately 2-weeks to hire and onboard new staff. During this time, required training and shadowing is completed.

Efforts to recruit staff AAI posts staff positions in various ways, utilizing platforms such as Indeed, the AAI website, etc. In addition, AAI has fostered a strong word of mouth approach within Pinal County to ensure information regarding open positions are shared broadly within Pinal County.

Efforts to maintain staff AAI invests in staff to ensure they are prepared and confident to provide the services provided. They receive 40 hours of classroom training and 40 hours of shadowing with experienced staff. When staff are confident about their ability to provide the services needed, their job satisfaction is enhanced. The Program Director of the program maintains an open-door policy to provide real time ability to staff cases and resolve barriers or issues as they arise. AAI and the Program Director utilize a strong approach to communication, communicating daily via a group chat to inform staff of new requirements, processes, changes, extensions, and information that DCS has passed along. The group chat is used as a team approach to generate creative approaches to problem solving, making arrangements for coverage, and making arrangements to pick up new cases. Staff feel comfortable in approaching the Program Director or other administrative staff when they have questions, have presenting personal or family issues, need additional clarification regarding service delivery, procedures and brainstorming ideas for a successful visit. AAI has a small fleet of vehicles that staff can use, instead of using their own vehicles when the visit includes 3 or more children, long distances, their own vehicles are in the shop, transporting children with exceptional transportation needs (i.e. very large child that does not fit in staff’s smaller vehicle), or other challenging circumstances.

In addition, AAI provides staff benefits such as flexible scheduling that includes an ability to make arrangements for other staff to cover visits when taking vacation time, sick time and mileage reimbursement. To foster team building, the Program Director facilitates monthly virtual staff meetings to staff cases, receive training, receive organizational updates, resolve issues (i.e. the use of Guardian).

During group chats and on a 1:1 basis, the Program Director routinely provides positive feedback and recognition for a job well done.

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Question 2: Provide a written narrative response that demonstrates the method or manner in which the offeror proposes to satisfy the requirements of the Scope of Work. The language of the narrative should be straightforward and limited to facts, solutions to problems, and plans of proposed action. The response shall at a minimum describe and provide a response for each of the following bullet points listed below:

· What are your processes to document visits, track case progress and manage referrals?

· How will you ensure accurate and timely communication and collaboration with the ADCS and/or other involved parties for visit schedules, progress and concerns?

Offeror Response:

Ensure Timely Services When AAI receives an Authorization to provide services, the Program Director immediately emails the DCS Case Manager to make sure all of the information on the referral is accurate and the authorization does not have missing information. This has had a positive impact on the Case Aide’s ability to make initial contact with the parties involved, in a timely manner. Once accuracy and completeness of the referral has been established, the case is assigned to a Case Aide. The Program Director immediately contacts the DCS Case Manager via secure email to determine if there are any special instructions for the case. The assigned Case Aide can then commence the process of contacting all parties involved, to include but not limited to: parents, guardians, siblings (as applicable), NPP (Nurturing Parent Program) Case Aide (as applicable) and DCS Case Manager, to make arrangements for the first visit. Special attention is paid to ensuring arrangements include having the first visit within 5 days of receiving the referral.

Documentation of visits, tracking case progress and managing referrals Case Aides utilize the Summary of Parenting Time form to document visits. Visits are tracked on a tracking form, which identifies how many hours are being used on a weekly basis to ensure services meet and do not exceed the parameters established in the authorization. No Call:No shows and cancellations are also documented on the Parenting Time form. Data from this form is entered into Guardian by the Program Director or the Case Aide. The Program Director documents completed visits on the Quarterly Report form.

Management of Referrals Twice per week, the Program Director and Case Aides meet to review and discuss referrals. This practice: helps AAI to maintain the number of referrals as established in the contract; challenges and/or barriers are identified, brainstormed and resolved; staff verify that the parameters as stated in the authorization are being met, i.e. number of visits per week; number of hours per visit, place of visitation, number of visits per week, issues identified by the DCS Specialists; etc.

Ensure Communication and collaboration occur with ADCS and/or other involved parties for Service Delivery and Coordination of Care The Program Director, Case Aides, Administrative staff are encouraged to communicate with ADCS personnel and NPP Case Aides on an “as needed” or ongoing basis. As a result, staff are familiar with all parties involved in each case and are comfortable reaching out to discuss the case and resolve potential issues either preemptively or immediately as they arise. Staff are able to work with ADCS personnel and NPP Case Aides to collaboratively identify resolutions that are family centric and responsive to identified needs.

AAI encourages staff to be responsive to emails, texts or other methods of communication on an “as soon as possible” basis, resulting in very effective two-way, collaborative communication between AAI and all parties involved in each case.

Question 3: Describe your process for communication with the State specific to contract administration, including but not limited to, personnel changes, updated agency information, VPR related issues and general communications. Identify any key roles or points of contact.

Offeror Response:

Personnel changes To ensure DCS is informed about there is a new Case Aide, the Program Director notifies the DCS Specialist. If there is a change in the Program Director position, either Human Resources or the Deputy Director communicate the change to the DCS Program Coordinator assigned to AAI. In addition, the Program Director updates changes in personnel into Guardian.

Updated agency information When there is new and substantive agency information pertaining to AAI, the Deputy Director, Human Resources Director or Program Director will inform the appropriate parties at DCS, via email, phone, mail or virtually.

VPR related issues AAI recognizes that responding to any VPR’s received are a priority. VPR’s are typically sent to the Executive Director, the Deputy Director and the Program Director. The Deputy Director and Program Director review the VPR to determine how to respond. When there is no change needed to AAI’s internal procedures, the Program Director will develop a written response to the VPR and send it to the DCS designee. When a change is needed to AAI’s internal procedures, the Deputy Director and Program Director work collaboratively to identify long-term process solution(s) to resolve the presenting issue and respond to the DCS designee. Of note, in 2024, one VPR was received. The Senior Procurement Officer determined that AAI’s performance was, in fact, not out of compliance and the VPR was closed with a final disposition of “monitoring.”

General Communications The Program Director is the main point of contact for the Parenting Time (Visitation) when communicating with DCS. The Program Director and Case Aides routinely communicate with DCS Specialists and NPP Case Aides. The Executive Director and Deputy Director respond to or reach out to DCS staff depending on the content of the communique. When there are Guardian related issues, the Program Director will connect with DCS staff through the help line on an as needed basis. When there are billing-related issues, the Program Director and/or the Associate Director will connect with designated DCS personnel.

Against Abuse, Inc. Proposal Solicitation No. BPM006769 Parenting Time Services

SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 3-A o

Question 4: Provide a detailed response for each of the following bullet points listed below:

· How does your agency ensure service delivery practices are in line with service design and best practice? Describe any internal monitoring, quality assurance processes, or staff oversight used to maintain quality across all referrals.

· Agency's process for ensuring annual training and continued education are met? What considerations does your agency take when identifying opportunities for staff knowledge enhancement?

· What strategies does your agency use to promote positive parent-child interactions, include strategies to de-escalate challenging situations?

· Explain your approach to ensure safety during transportation, including process for vetting vehicles and mitigating potential risk.

Offeror Response:

Ensure service delivery practices are aligned with service design:

The Program Director ensures that all staff receive required training and mentorship to ensure they are aware of AAI’s standards and expectations for high quality service delivery. The 40-hour shadowing is very helpful in aligning staff with DCS and AAI guidelines with Parenting Time (Visitation). Service delivery practices and service design are reviewed as needed during real-time staffings of cases to ensure continuous alignment with AAI’s service design. To stay sharp, staff complete 24-hours of additional training on an annual basis. During monthly staff meetings, the Program Director provides training based on performance trends that may need improvement.

Ensure consistency of quality AAI is responsive to feedback when received from those receiving services, DCS, NPP Case Aides, AAI staff, Placement, and others. If the feedback is positive, information is celebrated and shared with staff at all levels of the organization. When feedback is of a nature that may warrant remediation, the Program Director and Case Aides will identify a resolution strategy. This information is shared with the Deputy Director.

After receiving feedback from a DCS site visit, AAI develops an action plan to not only remediate the immediate concern, but also to create a programmatic process to ensure that performance expectations are met and even improved because they are infused into the core of our service delivery, to be implemented on an ongoing and routine basis.

The Deputy Director communicates the program’s resolution strategy and process changes to the AAI Leadership Team during weekly Performance Improvement Team meetings. As applicable, the Deputy Director and Program Director will develop new or adapt current organizational infrastructure and forms to support the implementation and review of quality services. Changes are then communicated to program staff as soon as possible, to inform them of any changes to procedures.

a. Ensure annual training and continued education and Process for data collection and monitoring The Program Director ensures that new staff receive a 40-hour classroom training, to include but not limited to DCS and AAI information regarding the Parenting Time (Visitation) requirements and expectations. The Program Director will ensure that staff complete required training, within 30-days, located in the Sanford Inspire portal (Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect, Identifying Signs of Child Abuse and Neglect, Parenting Time, Documentation, Computer Based Training, Role-Play, and Transportation) to obtain the DCS Parenting Time Case Aide Training certification.) The Program Director will facilitate any additional classroom training for each new staff. The Program Director will ensure new staff participate in 40-hours of shadowing with experienced AAI staff. The Program Director will facilitate the annual additional continued education requirements. Continued education can be in person, external or virtual (webinars). Some examples of Annual Training are updates on Guardian, Documentation, and The Neurosequential Model in Caregiving and/or other classes that will sharpen the quality of work being performed. Upon completion of training, each staff will complete a Verification of Training (VOT) form that is signed by the Program Director and AAI’s Executive Director. The Program Director sends the VOT form to the Director of Human Resources who files the form into the respective staff’s personnel file. The Director of Human Resources completes reporting requirements from DCS documenting staff who have completed their training requirements. When the Director of Human Resources identifies a staff member who needs additional training, she will communicate this need with the Program Director who will ensure staff knows and completes any required training requirements.

Promoting positive parent-child interactions, include strategies to de-escalate challenging situations AAI provides services that are family centered, strength based and choice driven. To accomplish this, the Case Aide ensures that services are provided within the parameters of the authorization and in a manner that the family finds meets their needs. This is accomplished through positive interactions and proactive communication between the Case Aide and the family. We have found that the information provided by families fosters positive parent-child interactions. During the visitation, if the Case Aide determines that the family member would benefit from feedback regarding their interactions, the Case Aide will intervene and provide suggestions for coping with frustration, positive communication, etc. For example, a Case Aide may suggest that the family member take a few minutes to practice some deep breathing and step out for a few minutes for fresh air and then resume the visit once they feel they can better cope with their frustration. A summary of these incidents are noted in the Summary of Parenting Time Visitation form by the Case Aide.

Ensuring safety during transportation, including process for vetting vehicles and mitigating potential risk AAI provides transportation for children to and from the location of the scheduled visitation – the location could include transportation outside of Pinal County. This is done via company vehicles as well as staff’s personal vehicles.

AAI’s Program Director maintains a vehicle maintenance schedule for agency vehicles. Prior to picking up children, vehicles are inspected daily, internally and externally. Any needs identified related to the vehicle are documented on the vehicle inspection form. If the vehicle is safe for transport, i.e. there is enough gas, the tires are filled correctly, there are current certified car seats if needed, etc. the Case Aide will utilize the agency vehicle for transport.

Prior to the Case Aide using their personal vehicle, the Program Director will ensure they have adequate vehicle insurance and a current and valid driver’s license. Case Aides provide an annual Motor Vehicle report to verify they are a safe driver. Once vetted, a Case Aide may provide transportation with their personal vehicle. Prior to utilizing their vehicle, for each visit, the Case Aide will determine their vehicle is safe for transport by utilizing the AAI Vehicle Inspection form. If there is a concern, and their vehicle is not safe to use to transport children, and the issue is not easily remediated, they will utilize an agency vehicle. Should there the an issue with a suspended license or fingerprint card, either the Director of Human Resources or the Program Director will inform DCS within 3-days.

End of Attachment 3-A