2026-006-RFA Early Intervention-Addendum 2-Post(PDF).pdf

Date: 10/10/2025 Owner: Rowan County Purchasing Department

130 West Innes Street • Salisbury, NC 28144 Phone: 704-216-8178 Email: jody.farrow-bennett@rowancountync.gov

Project: Addendum 2 RFA #2026-006 Early Intervention Services – Public Health Bid Date: October 23, 2025 @ 10:00 AM ET.

This Addendum is hereby made a part of the contract documents and specifications of the above referenced project. All other requirements of the original specification shall remain in effect in their respective order. Acknowledge receipt of this Addendum by signing and dating in the space provided at the end of this Addendum and including this with your bid package.

NOTES:

1. THIS ADDENDUM DOES NOT CHANGE THE BID DATE

Question:

1. Please confirm that Telehealth Services may be included as an eligible program component under the RFA.

Yes, Telehealth services can be included as an eligible program component.

2. The following two specific programs that are evidence-informed and strongly supported, rather than Evidence-Based, do they fall within the MOA's guidelines?

• Handle With Care is an evidence-informed, trauma-responsive community partnership model that strengthens coordination between law enforcement, schools, and childcare providers.

When a child is present during a potentially traumatic event—such as domestic violence, arrest, overdose, or accident—law enforcement confidentially alerts the child’s school or care center with a simple message: “Handle [Child’s Name] With Care.” No details about the incident are shared, but the alert prompts educators to provide extra understanding, patience, and emotional support the following day. This early, compassionate response helps stabilize children’s emotions, reduce behavioral issues, and prevent the long-term effects of toxic stress—key risk factors linked to later substance misuse. Handle With Care is recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) as a promising early intervention model that promotes resilience, mental health, and school success while helping communities address root causes of addiction before they begin.

Handle with Care is an allowable Early Intervention strategy under the NC MOA. It involves implementing a system that identifies children that have experienced an event that puts them mailto:jody.farrow-bennett@rowancountync.gov at risk for mental health challenges and/or substance use, and it aims to support these children through extra understanding, patience, and emotional support in order to help stabilize the child’s emotions and reduce long-term effects of toxic stress to promote resilience and mental health.

• Respite Care is an evidence-informed family support service that provides short-term, planned relief to parents and caregivers of children with developmental, behavioral, or medical needs.

By giving families temporary breaks from the ongoing demands of care, respite services help reduce caregiver stress, strengthen family resilience, and prevent crises that can lead to burnout, neglect, or maladaptive coping behaviors such as substance use. Extensive research from the ARCH National Respite Network, SAMHSA, and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) shows that access to high-quality respite care improves overall family functioning, increases positive parent-child interactions, and reduces the risk of child maltreatment, family separation, and parental substance misuse. For families affected by or at risk of addiction, respite care can serve as a protective early intervention, connecting caregivers to mental-health support, stress-management resources, and community systems of care before crises escalate.

Respite Care may be an allowable Early Intervention strategy under the NC MOA. For Early Intervention, it is key that the child is the ultimate beneficiary of the intervention. The research includes outcomes that benefit the child, such as family functioning, positive parent-child interactions, child treatment, and parental substance use. If the program aims to increase protective factors for a child through connecting caregivers to mental health support, stress management resources, and community systems of care, that may be considered Early Intervention.