2-Attachment 3-A Method of Approach.pdf

Solicitation Instructions Part 2

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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 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:

At the present time I have 6 staff members that have experience doing supervised visits and will transition to Happy Home Living to do parenting time visits. The transition process will involve several key steps to ensure a smooth transition. First, we will conduct orientation sessions to familiarize staff with Happy Home Living's policies and procedures. Following this, each team member will undergo specific training sessions to align their skills with the requirements of parenting time visits. Meeting the Staffing Requirements I will implement a comprehensive training program to meet all DCS required training enhance the skills and knowledge of our staff, ensuring they are well-equipped for their roles. The goal as to maintain staff and continue to recruit additional staff by providing regular workshops and seminars will be organized to keep the team updated on industry trends and best practices. Additionally, I will encourage continuous professional development through online courses and certifications to maintain high staff capacity and adaptability. Maintaining Staff Capacity I will conduct regular assessments of current staffing levels and compare them to projected needs to identify any gaps. Additionally, I will implement a flexible staffing model that allows for quick adjustments based on workload fluctuations. Cross-training employees will also be a priority to ensure that team members can cover multiple roles as needed, enhancing overall staff capacity. Additionally, I will hold regular check-ins with team members to discuss their progress and address any challenges they may be facing. This approach will help maintain staff capacity and optimize productivity. To address this, A v a i l a b l e

SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 3-A Page 44 of 62 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 we implemented a flexible staffing model that allowed us to scale our workforce up or down based on current needs. Additionally, we established partnerships with other agencies to share resources and ensure that we could meet demand even during peak periods. We implemented flexible staffing solutions, such as hiring part-time employees and utilizing on-call staff to quickly respond to changes in demand. Additionally, we regularly reviewed service usage data to anticipate trends and adjust our staffing levels accordingly. By fostering partnerships with other agencies, we were also able to share resources and best practices, ensuring that we could meet the needs of families efficiently. Regularly review and update compliance checklists to align with any changes in contract terms or regulations. Conduct periodic audits and training sessions to ensure all team members are familiar with their responsibilities. Additionally, establish a clear communication channel with the client to address any concerns or modifications promptly. State in case of staff turnover for designated Key Personnel. It is crucial to implement a robust succession planning process to ensure a smooth transition when key personnel leave. Cross-training employees can also be beneficial, as it prepares other team members to step into critical roles if needed. Additionally, maintaining an open line of communication with staff can help identify potential retention issues early and address them proactively.

Turnover Rate The previous company I administered for had a three-person turnover. This turnover rate was significantly lower than the industry average, reflecting our commitment to employee satisfaction and retention. By fostering a supportive work environment and providing opportunities for professional growth, we were able to maintain a stable and dedicated team. To reduce turnover, consider implementing employee engagement programs, offering competitive compensation packages, and providing opportunities for professional development. Additionally, fostering a positive work environment and recognizing employee achievements can help improve job satisfaction and retention. Regularly seeking feedback from employees can also identify areas for improvement and address concerns before they lead to turnover.

Average time to hire staff the average time to hire staff at Entity is approximately 45 days, from the initial job posting to the final offer. This duration includes various stages such as reviewing applications, conducting interviews, and completing background checks. Entity strives to recruit and maintain staff by offering competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for professional development. Recruit Entity uses a variety of methods to attract candidates, including online job postings, social media outreach, and employee referral programs. They also

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 3-A Page 45 of 62 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 attend job fairs and partner with educational institutions to connect with potential candidates.

These strategies help Entity reach a diverse pool of talent and ensure they find the best fit for their team. Maintain Staff We have a salary range for a Parenting Time Aide of $18 to $20, with a yearly review conducted for salary increases. Parenting Time Aide Supervisors/Team Leads could be an option for a Parenting Time Aide to transition into, based on time in the job and experience. This job title ranges from $20 to $22. Additionally, Parenting Time Aides may also have the opportunity to advance to other roles within the organization, such as Parenting Time Aide supervisor or Parenting Time Aide lead, depending on their performance and professional development. To retain employees, we have established a merit-based pay system. There will be a pay increase after 30 days, followed by a second one after 90 days and a final one after 1 year of consistent employment. Once you have worked with our agency for at least 32 hours for 90 days, we will offer health/dental/vision insurance. Additionally, we provide opportunities for professional development and career advancement. Our goal is to create a supportive and rewarding work environment that encourages long-term commitment and growth. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and providing clear pathways for advancement, we aim to empower our employees to reach their full potential while contributing to the overall success of the organization.

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:

Parenting Time Aide will have information pertaining to the visit, including all participating members and the location of the visits. The Parenting Time Aide process for documenting visits includes, but is not limited to, using the specific document provided by DCS, which will be electronically sent to the Agency Administrator. Parenting Aide will review DCS visitation guidelines with the parent(s) at the beginning of the visit and have the parent(s) sign it.

Additionally, Parenting Time Aide will have parents sign a signature page confirming that the visit occurred at the end of the visit. Agency Administration will review the documents received via email. After all appropriate documents are completed, they will be uploaded to the Guardian.

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 3-A Page 46 of 62 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

Documentation is archived securely for the appropriate amount of time. Following DCS guidelines ensures that visits are conducted in a safe and structured manner, providing a supportive environment for both parents and children. Adhering to these guidelines also helps maintain consistency across all supervised visits, ensuring that all parties involved have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, compliance with DCS guidelines is crucial for legal and regulatory purposes, helping to protect the rights and well-being of the families served. Parenting Time Aides play a crucial role in overseeing interactions between children and their non-custodial parents to ensure a safe and positive environment. Their responsibilities include documenting visitations, providing detailed reports, and intervening if any issues arise during the visits. Additionally, they offer guidance and support to both parents to facilitate healthy and constructive interactions.

All cases are tracked and reviewed daily in Excel. Each day, an existing case is reviewed by the scheduler and administrator to determine if the parent visit takes place or not. If it does not take place, the DCS case manager is notified by email or phone about the weekly status of the new referral or existing case by the scheduler. Using Excel for case tracking offers several benefits, including the ability to easily organize and sort data, making it simple to monitor the progress of each case. Excel's built-in formulas and functions allow for efficient data analysis, helping identify trends or issues that may require attention. Additionally, Excel's customizable templates and charts provide a visual representation of case statuses, facilitating clear communication among team members.

Managing a new referral requires reaching out within 24 hours to the parent, placement, and DCS Case Manager. Attempt to schedule the visit within 3 to 5 days of receiving the referral. We will partner with the DCS case manager, DCS Case Manager supervisor, and Program Director to ensure we have extensively tried to get the visit set up.

To ensure accurate and timely communication and collaboration, we send weekly updates on any issues or concerns that arise with new or existing referrals to the DCS case manager.

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:

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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

As soon as personnel and facility changes occur, administrative staff will notify the state.

Updates will be made to the personnel files and reported to the client and case manager affected. Our administrative staff monitors personnel records on a monthly basis to ensure compliance. As part of the monthly audit, we check driver's licenses, drug testing, fingerprint clearance cards, CPR/First Aid, and training items. Our records track vendor performance issues and we will address them with the affected parties as soon as possible. In order to ensure timely response to issues related to vendor performance, we hold weekly meetings with all team leads.

Further clarification will be discussed during our bi-monthly meetings to ensure that the issue is addressed holistically. Additionally, we will conduct quarterly reviews to ensure all standards are being met and to implement any necessary improvements. This proactive approach will help maintain high standards and ensure smooth operations.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

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:

From the time we receive the referral, our schedulers review it. Verify in Guardian if there are any restrictions on location and people who can attend. Coordinate a visit with the placement and parents. Schedulers discuss what day and time work as well as the location of the visit. They discuss with placement any dietary restrictions. Scheduling information is documented and uploaded so that Parent Time Aides are equipped with the information on their visit.

Schedulers monitor the visit to make sure parents and staff members arrive at the visit on time. This process ensures that all necessary information is gathered and documented for the visit, and that the visit is conducted smoothly and efficiently. It also helps to ensure that the parents and staff members are aware of any dietary restrictions or other important details that may impact the visit. Parenting Time Supervisors will continuously monitor notes and visits through one-to-one meetings and monthly staff meetings. Parenting Time Supervisors will constantly monitor notes to ensure accuracy and detail. They will provide feedback and guidance to staff members to maintain a high standard of care and support during visits. Regular evaluations and training sessions are conducted to ensure that all team members are equipped to handle any challenges that may arise. Parenting Time Supervisors will also provide feedback and guidance to staff to improve their note-taking skills and make sure that all necessary information is recorded. This will help us to maintain high standards of documentation and make sure that all visits are accurately recorded. In contract matters, we contact case workers and ensure notes are completed. Our agency provides comprehensive training programs on quality assurance and service delivery best practices. This includes regular workshops and seminars to keep team members updated on industry standards and effective service design strategies.

Additionally, staff are required to complete ongoing professional development courses to ensure

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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 they are equipped with the latest skills and knowledge needed to maintain high-quality service across all referrals. We utilize a robust system of performance metrics and client feedback to continuously assess our service delivery effectiveness. Regular audits and reviews are conducted to ensure adherence to established standards, and we encourage open communication among staff to identify areas for improvement. Additionally, staff training sessions are held frequently to keep everyone updated on best practices and any changes in service updated on best practices and any changes in service protocols.

Parenting Time Supervisor tracks all staff in Excel to ensure compliance. Ensure that employees receive fifteen (15) hours of training within thirty (30) days of hire and every year. All training is recorded in Excel. Upon hire, there is an orientation to discuss the dos and don’ts of visits, which include how to set up for a successful visit. This is not limited to the discussion regarding maintaining time management, grammatically correcting errors in documentation, and ensuring you are the eyes and ears of the DCS. We continue to review documentation by having monthly one-on-ones with staff. We review each component of a visit regarding proper pickup, engagement with placement and parents. We try to identify any roadblocks associated with their continued success as a Parenting Time Aide. To ensure time management mastery, we work closely with the newly hired Parenting Time Aide daily until the case aide shows assertiveness to handle the task of arrival on time. Our team has also instituted the opportunity for existing case aides to shadow each other for up to a week so that they are familiar with the steps involved in the visit process. Happy Home Living staff provides supervised visitation services to support DCS. Staff is trained in becoming a mandate reporter, providing training on parenting time, transportation and documentation. Addition training includes filling out incident reports If they were to occur. A training from Phoenix Children’s hospital in proper car seat training. Staff are trained in safely transporting client to and from visit with parents. Staff members are trained in ensuring all contact occurring during the visit between child and parent is within staff hearing and sight at all times. Staff members are trained in observing, monitoring and assessing the client parenting skills and provide intervention and coaching as needed. Staff members are trained in assisting and help client cope with their feelings in order to assist them on the visit. Staff members are trained to enter documentation into GUARDIAN. The agency evaluates training effectiveness by collecting feedback from participants through surveys and assessments. Additionally, performance metrics and employee progress are monitored to

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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 determine if the training objectives have been met. This data is then analyzed to identify areas for improvement and to tailor future training programs to better meet the needs of the staff.

The agency's goal is to foster a strong bond between the parents, children, caseworkers, and placements. We help parents cope with their feelings. We work on providing a safe environment to build positive memories. Our staff members are trained to observe without judgment or biases. Our staff members are trained to actively listen, have empathy, practice clear communication, and build trusting relationships through consistent respectful interactions and by empowering parents to actively participate in parenting time. Staff members are trained in Crisis Prevention and Intervention. Staff members are able to de-escalate challenging situations.

By working with others to stay calm, take deep breaths, and try to stay centered, aware, but above all, calm. By remaining calm, we can help de-escalate challenging situations and influence nonverbally what others perceive and how they will react. Parent Time staff knows how to use their body as a medium for expressing calm. They are trained to lower their tone of voice, use palm-up gestures, relax their shoulders, angle their body slightly, create spatial distance, relax their face, and even try smiling, if appropriate; use your eyes to communicate that you don’t want to antagonize. When the person is speaking, our staff will listen carefully to what they say, the words that they use, what they repeat, but especially what they say first. Words have meaning, and the primacy of words even more. No matter how illogical or emotional, our staff listen and acknowledge that you are receiving their message. In listening, we begin the important process of validation. If the situation is escalating and emotions are running high, our staff is trained in asking the parent to consider taking a break. There is nothing wrong with saying: “I need to step out. I will be back, but I need to think about what has been said.” Let the other party know you want to engage, but you are human also and may need to consider what has transpired thus far. This can help both parties to calm down and approach the situation more rationally. Our staff is trained to give positive feedback to the individuals who begin to de-escalate by relaxing even further, by further validation, by thanking them for considering solutions you may have proposed, by showing greater comfort around them. Our staff takes a desire and commitment to make things better. With some of the tips here and where possible some practice, it can be achieved with a little patience. Agency staff are trained to remain calm and empathetic as you seek to resolve the situation in a constructive manner.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

We implement a comprehensive risk assessment process to identify potential hazards and develop strategies to mitigate them. This includes regular vehicle maintenance checks, driver training programs, and the use of advanced safety technologies such as Life 360 GPS tracking and collision avoidance systems. Additionally, we conduct routine audits and inspections to ensure compliance with safety regulations and to proactively address any emerging risks. Our vehicle vetting process begins with a thorough inspection of each vehicle's mechanical and safety features, ensuring they meet all regulatory standards. We also conduct background checks on the vehicle's maintenance history and perform regular audits to ensure ongoing compliance. Additionally, we use state-of-the-art technology to monitor vehicle performance in real-time, allowing us to address any issues promptly. We will pull staff’s driving record bi-annually to ensure no changes have occurred. In the event a driver is hired and on a biannual basis, verify that they possess the following: 1. No moving violations within the last thirty-nine

(39) months that have resulted in license suspension or revocation.In the event that a license suspension or revocation is not due to moving violations (i.e., nonpayment of registration fee or parking ticket), new hires and current employees can provide transportation to ADCS clients if: 2.

No arrests or convictions for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) or Driving Under the Influence (DUI) as per (A.R.S. 28-1381-1383) in the latest thirty-nine (39) months or related driving restrictions notated on their level I fingerprint clearance card. 3. No "at fault" accidents in the last thirty-nine (39) months 4. No more than six (6) points accumulated on their driving record in the last thirty-nine (39) months. 5. No criminal violations within thirty-nine (39) months. 6. Valid car insurance. 7. Current CPR certification. Non-compliance with these requirements may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

Drivers who fail to meet these standards put ADCS clients' safety at risk and compromise the organization's reputation. It is essential that all drivers adhere to these guidelines to ensure the highest level of service and safety.

End of Attachment 3-A

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