2-Attachment 3A Method of Approach.pdf

Solicitation Instructions Part 2

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 3-A Page 40 of 67 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 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:

In order to ensure we are meeting the staffing requirements and maintaining staff capacity, as well as ensure ongoing responsiveness to the requirements of the contract and to the needs of the State in case of staff turnover for Key personnel the following steps will be taken:

Staff Responsibilities

- CEO – The CEO is responsible for creating and implementing policies and procedures, program oversight, curricula, training, direct support for Case Aides, in addition to other company responsibilities.

- Program Director- Under the direction of the CEO, the Program Director will manage staff and the day to day activities of the organization. This includes but not limited to developing the responsibilities for the staff, hiring employees, developing and mentoring staff, as well as ensuring the organization accomplishes tasks outlined in the scope of work, she will also provide training and supervision to the staff and assist the Referral Specialist with assigning and transitioning cases.

- Summary Specialist – The Summary Specialist will be responsible for receiving and reviewing all supervised visitation notes and entering them into the required platform.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

- Case Aides – Case Aides will set up supervised visits with placement/guardians and parents, provide transportation for the children when necessary and documentation all visitations on the Summary of

Supervised Visitation Report

- Referral Specialist- The Referral Specialist will be in charge of requesting and receiving referrals from the department. They will also be in charge of assigning referrals to that appropriate staff and making sure that contact is made within 24 hours.

Staff will provide services in the community, ADCS Offices (if applicable) and in homes of clients (if applicable).

Staff will work both from their home and from the office. Additional Office space will be secured within the first

3 months of receipt of the award of the contract, in the Pima County area.

The agency will have bi-weekly staff meetings with the field staff and weekly meetings with administrative staff.

During these meetings, policies and procedures will be discussed in order to make sure we are following the requirements of our contract. Staff will participate in ongoing trainings and all staff will receive individual supervisions to address needs and changes.

The main thing that makes us different from other providers or our competitors is the fact that we place a lot of value on setting objectives and goals and ensuring that all staff have adequate resources and training to do their job completely. Other things that set us apart are the following:

• We provide our staff with opportunities for growth and advancement

• We acquire staff that have an array of significant life experiences and a diversity of education and work

• We ensure that our staff are made up of a diverse group of people with various sexual orientations, race, gender, language and education.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

Our agency has 90% employee retention rate. Our hiring process ensures a diverse, multilingual, educated, experienced workforce. Our average time to hire staff is usually about two to three weeks. Our hiring process includes the following steps:

• Initial job postings

• Screening for experience

• Interview process and onboarding

• Training and professional development

New employees will also go through a New Hire Orientation with the Program Director, Referral Specialist and Summary Specialist. During the Orientation:

• The Program Director will review company policies and procedures, position expectations and responsibilities, employee handbook, dress code and other areas of importance. She will also provide training on incident reports and Mandated Reporting

• The Referral Specialist will request that all new hires complete a Case Aide assessment, in order to assist with assigning referrals. The Referral Specialist will also provide a sample referral to the staff and show them how to read the referrals and will discuss steps to be taken after being assigned a case.

• The Summary Specialist will provide training on correctly completing a Summary Visitation Notes, what goes into a note, how to send to agency and timeframe to send.

We believe in building relationships in which our staff feel valued and respected. We do this by offering higher wages, open door communication, positive feedback, coaching and by offering incentives. These incentives include things such as luncheons during staff meetings, recognition during staff meetings, gas cards, business cards and holiday pay

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:

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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

§ 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:

MIH Ventures LLC dba Echelon Services will take the necessary steps to satisfy all the requirements of the Scope of Work. The most important aspect of providing services to our families will be to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services. We will do this by devising a Parenting Time program that will meet the needs of all families regardless of their ethnicity, gender and culture. We will employ full time staffs that will be bilingual and able to meet the needs of the Hispanic population in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal Counties. We also plan to utilize a language interpreter service to assist with these needs.

The first step we will take in satisfying the requirements of the Scope of Work will be to Accept all clients upon receiving a referral from ADCS. Our Referral Specialist will accept all cases for service upon receipt of a referral and service approval (SA) from the ADCS Child Welfare Case Management System (Guardian). This may include referral packets and service approval sent to our agency by fax, email or other as decided by the ADCS Referral Unit. The Referral Specialist will communicate with the ADCS Specialist to gather all required information for successful services to take place and to also to get up to date demographic information for the families.

Our agency will serve Non-English speaking families by being able to speak/communicate in the preferred language of the guardian, parent, caregiver and /or child(ren). We will utilize Language Link (a leading provider of language services that services over 300 languages and dialects) to assist with this as needed.

Upon receiving a referral, the Referral Coordinator will determine which staff is better suited to handle that case. This will be determined by race, gender, age, experience, language, education and culture. We will assign the appropriate staff member for all cases. It is very important to have appropriate relationships between the families and the Case Aides. Having that relationship provides framework for observing, monitoring and assessing the client’s parenting skills and also when providing guidance and coaching as needed. The referral coordinator will sit down with the Case Aide to discuss the referral in detail and answer all questions that the

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SECTION 2-D: Offer Forms, Attachment 3-A Page 44 of 67 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

Case Aide may have, Upon receipt of the referral, the Case Aide must contact the family with 24 hours to establish services.

All cases will be added to a spreadsheet that we keep in order to determine how many cases we have and how many more we can take at any given time. Once a case is received and assign and added to that spreadsheet we will then create a case file that will contain the referral packet, summary of visitation reports and any other reports and notes related to that case. Each case file will be filed away in a locked filing room.

Case Aides will be trained on proper supervised visitations and protocols that must be followed. They will understand that they must adhere to the following:

- Send the parent/caregiver a reminder of their scheduled parenting time to improve engagement and reduce the likelihood of cancelled or missed parent

- They must provide the parent/caregiver with a copy of the Parenting Time Guideline and obtain parent signature.

- Be present at the parenting time location for the entire visit time, unless otherwise approved by ADCS.

- Make sure all contact between the children and the parent/caregiver is monitored or supervised according to the supervision type requested by ADCS

- They will document if the child does not want to attend the visit and notify the ADCS Specialist.

- Prepare the parent/caregiver for child’s reactions at parenting time and help them cope with their feelings.

- Be aware of the child’s physical and behavioral health needs as identified by ADCS.

- Make sure all parties follow all court orders and direction given by ADCS.

- Observe and monitor the parent/caregiver’s interactions with the child(ren). Documents the observations on the Summary of parenting Time Form (which should be entered into Guardian within 7 business days).

- Intervene and terminate the parenting time if it becomes harmful to the child

- Record all interruptions or terminations of parenting times in the parent/caregiver’s case record within

24 hours of occurrence.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

- Try to contact the parent/caregiver by phone if they do not show up. Wait for 15 minutes before leaving and then bill for a no show. Notify DCS if they fail to how up for 2 consecutive sessions.

- Reschedule parenting time within a one week time frame if the parent/caregiver cancels parenting time.

- If parent/caregiver is attending regularly but less that approved in the referral, communicate with the ADCS specialist to see if modification is needed.

- Monitor Parenting Time for the following when a case involves allegation of sexual abuse and prohibit the alleged perpetrator from:

• Diapering the child or assisting with the bathroom

• Bringing gifts, money or objects from home �

• Photographing, videotaping, or audio taping the child(ren)

• Engaging in extended physical contact with the child(ren)

• Engaging in any behaviors or actions noted or restricted by the ADCS specialist

The agency is aware that a large number of the visits must occur in the evenings or weekends; therefore our Case Aides will be available 7 days a week.

Our Case Aides will also be trained on the importance of finding appropriate locations for the visits to occur.

They will make sure that locations for visits are safe, secure and appropriate for family interaction. Our future plans will be to open our own visitation centers where the families will feel that sense of safety and security.

Since our staff will be responsible for providing transportation to the children for visits, they will be required to have valid driver’s license and car insurance that meets the minimum requirements. Our agency will provide the staff with Car seat training. All staff are required to have properly working heat and air, working windows, cars should be neat and clean, up to date maintenance and follow all rules of the road. They are not allowed to smoke in their vehicles and they must make sure that they have a working communication device with them at all times in case of emergencies. Upon hire all new hires must present current driver’s license, MVD reports, A v a i l a b l e

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts copies of insurance card and declaration page showing their limits. These items will be kept in their employee file. We will hire those that meet these qualifications:

- At least 21 years of age

- Have training certificates showing completion of car seat training, AZ mandated reporter law training and Guardian Training for applicable staff

- Have a clear Central Registry Background Check and a Level One Fingerprint Clearance Card prior to delivering services.

- No arrests or convictions for driving while intoxicated (DWI) or Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in the most recent 39 months or related driving restrictions notated on their Level 1 Fingerprint Clearance Card.

• - No at fault accidents in the most recent 39 months

• - No more than 6 points accumulated on driving record in the most recent 39 months

• - No criminal violations in the most recent 39 months

• - A valid driver’s license that has not been suspended or revoked within the most recent 39 months

• - Valid Car insurance

• - CPR Certification

- Have a clear/negative pre-employment drug test result, as well as a clear/negative random drug test biennially from the date of hire.

- Have not been placed on probation or parole in the last 10 years from present date and

- Have no civil, criminal, or juvenile restraining orders within the last ten years from present date.

- Have at least a High School Diploma or GED

Verification of all of these things will be placed in the employee file.

MIH Ventures LLC dba Echelon Services employs staff that meet all of the qualifications specified in the scope of work. Upon hire we request that all new hires provide a copy of education, resume and application and list of references. The references will be checked for verification. The resume and application, verification of education and reference follow up form are kept in the employee file.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

MIH Ventures LLC dba Echelon Services is proposing to contract for Maricopa, Pima and Pinal Counties. All new hires go through a new hire orientation. During orientation they will receive a name badge that shows their name, picture, title and name of our agency. They will be required to wear this badge at all times. When employees are hired the office will create and maintain a personnel file for them that will include:

- Proof of education

- Resume/Application

- Central Registry Check

- Level One Fingerprint Clearance Card

- Proof of all required trainings

- Driver’s License

- Social Security Card

- First Aid and CPR card

- MVD report

- Car Insurance information

- Drug Test Results

All of these items must be in their file and up to date in order for them to serve families. MIH Ventures LLC dba Echelon Services will follow all reporting requirements.

Our processes will ensure timely services because the Case Aides, after reviewing the referral, will contact the caregiver, parent and ADCS Specialist within 24 hours and provide each with his or her contact information, supervisor’s, and the company’s.

The Case Aide will contact the caregiver(s) to ask what works best for the child and caregiver and if there are any appointments, school schedules, sports or activities that the Case Aide should be aware of and/or if there are any other considerations, such as bedtime, breaks from school or vacations and/or if the child is in childcare or after school programs. The Case Aide will contact the parent(s)

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts to ask what works best for the parent and/or if there are any limitations due to work, appointments, classes, etc.

The Case Aide then schedules the visits at the most convenient time for all involved.

The Case Aide will then advise the ADCS Specialist of the visitation schedule via secure or encrypted email.

The Referral Coordinator is copied on the communication to the ADCS Specialist to ensure contact is made and visits are scheduled for reporting and compliance.

All of this will be done in a timely manner so that services can get started as soon as possible, without any necessary delays.

We will ensure communication and collaboration occur with the ADCS and/or other involved parties for service delivery and coordination of care by exercising regular communication with caseworkers, solicited feedback, exemplary services and the fulfillment of services to the best of its ability. Additionally, we seek a relationship that is mutually communicative, respectful and trusting. All Key Personnel will meet weekly to discuss the status of referrals, challenges and successes, training needs, and other company items

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:

MIH Ventures LLC DBA Echelon Services has numerous skilled and well-trained staff that will provide services in the event that any key personnel are not available. We plan to cross train staff to provide services in this event. Initially all key personnel will be trained according to the contract requirements. That way, expertise is not limited to a single contact or department but it is shared among the entire agency. This will also play a huge role when there may be personnel changes, as someone will be able to step into that role until it is filled again permanently. Policies and procedures will be updated as needed to meet contract requirements. The Program

Director will provide direct supervision of staff. This supervision will allow time for case staffing and will ensure ongoing program compliance. The Program Director will attend all available contract and state meetings ad

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts communicate this information to the CEO and all other Key Personnel. The CEO and/or Program Director will always communicate with the state when there are changes with agency information or key personnel changes.

The agency will have bi-weekly staff meetings with the field staff and weekly meetings with administrative staff.

During these meetings, policies and procedures will be discussed in order to make sure we are following the requirements of our contract. Staff will participate in ongoing trainings and all staff will receive individual supervisions to address needs and changes.

MIH Ventures LLC DBA Echelon Services has a Business Continuity Plan of Key Personnel. First, key decision making will be discussed at weekly meetings. Secondly, there will be a chain of command for decision making in the event of disaster, threat or pandemic. Thirdly, data will be securely stored both electronically, on-site and off-site, and in hard copy. Fourthly, communication to and from staff and agencies will be through cellular devices, landlines, and email.

Our agency will promote teamwork and collaboration. In the event of vacation, illness, or catastrophe, staff will be cross trained to ensure timely and appropriate responses to the Department.

The CEO is trained in all administrative positions and can provide short-term fulfillment to maintain continuity of service. The

Program Director will be trained in both the Summary Specialist and Referral Specialist positions and can provide short-term fulfillment of position responsibilities, in the event of staff loss. Additionally, the Summary Specialist and Referral Specialist will be cross trained in counterpart positions to ensure short-term continuity of service, in the event of staff loss. As the company continues to grow, it is likely that both the Summary Specialist and the Referral Specialist positions will have 2 staff dedicated to fulfilling those responsibilities.

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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:

Our agency will demonstrate a commitment to continuous quality improvement through the implementation of a a comprehensive Performance Quality Improvement (PQI) system that will be manage by the CEO. We will offer high quality in our training programs. We will make sure all new staff complete new hire orientation, annual trainings and regular trainings. As determined necessary, evidenced in performance assessments and as program policies and procedures are added and/or changed. The agency will have bi-weekly staff meetings with the field staff and weekly meetings with administrative staff. During these meetings, policies and procedures will be discussed in order to make sure we are following the requirements of our contract. Staff will participate in ongoing trainings and all staff will receive individual supervisions to address needs and changes.

Our agency also tracks data through different means in order to ensure quality of service and engagement. We will conduct client satisfactory surveys that contain a combination of yes/no questions and open-ended questions that allow for honest feedback. The feedback is discussed with Key personnel and then with individual staff members if there are issues. The overall feedback is then shared with all staff during staff meetings to allow time to brainstorm when can be corrected if there are any issues.

All key personnel are invested in the growth and success of the company. To ensure the company is reaching its full potential key personnel will come together to report updates of the company, discuss concerns, progress, financial profits and losses, and ensure the mission of creating a breakthrough in families that the parents of the world inspire children to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives and the lives of their next generation is being accomplished through the direct services of our agency.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

Our staff understands the importance of documentation, and knows how to complete timelines within the requirements of the contract. We understand the importance of following the contract. Our staff are dedicated, educated and welcome the challenge of working with ADCS.

Training for our staff will be ongoing. MIH Ventures LLC dba Echelon Services will build in a minimum of three hours monthly for training and will seek input from staff on training needs. Additionally, we will seek additional training from experts or skilled professionals within our fields to provide training, such as from Banner Health, the AZ Department of Education, and others. We will always make sure we are responsive to the needs of the clientele and the Department and provide training on identified areas to improve services.

An example of quality standards and measures that our agency intends to use would focus on continuous quality improvement. The steps to achieve this would be:

1. Identify areas of practice we want to improve or replicate

2. Explore solutions to improve services and processes. Discuss how proposed interventions will achieve short and long term goals.

3. Select the best approach to making improvements to ensure the needs of our staff and our clients are being met. Make sure these interventions are sufficiently defined and measurable and evidence based

4. We will then monitor results and where possible, implement robust outcome evaluation methods to fully understand if the interventions are yielding improvements.

5. We will then learn from the intervention testing and attempt to replicate success.

In order to promote positive parent-child interactions and de-escalate challenging situations, our agency will implement strategies like offering parenting education, facilitating group activities, and providing individual counseling, while also teaching de-escalation techniques like active listening and empathy.

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Solicitation No. BPM006769

Parenting Time Services

State of Arizona Department of Child Safety

Office of Procurement & Contracts

To ensure transportation safety, our agency will work on implementing a robust risk management process, including thorough vehicle vetting, driver training, and emergency preparedness, alongside proactive measures like route planning and real-time monitoring. We will encourage our staff to establish a rigorous maintenance schedule to ensure vehicles remain in optimal condition and identify potential issues early.

End of Attachment 3-A