RFP 6223 - Therapeutic Family Support Services

The County of Ventura (hereinafter referred to as County) invites your organization to submit a written proposal to provide Therapeutic Family Support Services to families involved in the child welfare system throughout Ventura County. The selected vendor will provide therapeutic intervention and modeling to help improve parent-child interactions and ongoing attachment via licensed, unlicensed registered, or waivered clinical professionals in a safe and natural environment. The Therapeutic Family Support Services (TFSS) program is a jointly managed program between the County of Ventura's Human Services Agency (HSA) Children & Family Services (CFS) and the Health Care Agency (HCA) Ventura County Behavioral Health (VCBH) aimed at improving family functioning and promoting positive parent-child interactions. The mission of CFS is to protect children by strengthening families. CFS' three priorities are preventing family separations, safely reuniting families as fast as possible, and ensuring children and youth who cannot safely return home have lifelong and unconditional family connections. The mission of VCBH is to reduce stigma and discrimination while promoting wellness through a whole-person care approach where clients and families are empowered by appropriate, accessible, timely, culturally sensitive, and collaborative behavioral health services. The TFSS program consists of four components providing (1) individual child/youth therapy sessions; (2) therapeutic visitation services with live coaching with the child/youth and their parent(s) or prospective caregiver(s); (3) individual parent/prospective caregiver sessions; and (4) parenting support groups. Eligible populations for the TFSS program include but are not limited to families receiving Family Preservation (FP), Family Reunification (FR), Family Maintenance (FM), and Family Enhancement (FE) services, and children/youth receiving Permanent Placement (PP) services and their parents, and prospective caregivers. CFS will refer families who are receiving FP, FR, FM or FE services, and youth who are receiving PP services and their parent(s), and prospective caregiver(s) to VCBH through the Mental Health Referral Form for Assessment and Treatment. VCBH will determine appropriateness of referral and submit authorization to the contractor for services. The contractor's licensed, unlicensed registered, or waivered clinical professional will complete a biopsychosocial assessment with the parent/prospective caregiver and child/youth to develop a comprehensive therapeutic support service plan. Plans will be individualized to each child/youth and their parent(s) or prospective caregiver(s) and will integrate needed goals and interventions. The services will seek to maximize the child's/youth's well-being, create and maintain safety, promote appropriate parent-child or prospective caregiver-youth interactions to enhance bonding, increase healing and attachment, and work towards supporting timely reunification or permanency and lifelong connections. Services should be provided in the family's home whenever possible to allow the parents to engage with their children in situations that more closely mirror the reality of home life. The selected vendor must demonstrate the ability to provide culturally competent services and have the bilingual capability to provide therapeutic visitation and intervention services in the family's primary or preferred language. Services performed through this RFP will be designed from a trauma-informed perspective, will align with the mission, vision and values of HSA and HCA, and will be implemented according to the values and practices of the following: • Integrated Core Practice Model (ICPM) • Safety Organized Practice (SOP) • Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) Timely communication, documentation and coordination with CFS and VCBH are critical aspects of this service. It is estimated that the Contractor selected from this RFP will provide services to forty-eight (48) unduplicated families or youth and their prospective caregivers for the 6-month performance period of January 1, 2026, through June 30, 2026. Should the contract be renewed, it is estimated that ninety-six (96) unduplicated families or youth and their prospective caregivers will receive services each year. Any questions please contact Michelle Larios - michelle.larios@venturacounty.gov