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Budget Amendment - Social Services Emergency Placement Funds
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ashley Lantz, Human Services Agency - Social Services, Director, 704-296-4380
ACTION REQUESTED:
1) Recognize, receive, and appropriate $13,457 in additional funding from the NCDHHS Division of Social Services and 2) approve Budget Amendment #7.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
None.
BACKGROUND:
To help address ongoing challenges in securing treatment placements for children in DSS custody with complex behavioral health needs, NCDHHS DSS reallocated $1,237,010 in unused Emergency Placement Funds associated with the behavioral health investment from the 2023 Appropriations Act to the DSS Emergency Placement Fund.
Each county will receive a base amount of $10,000 and the remainder of the funds will be allocated based on each county’s percentage of the foster care census. Union County will receive $13,457. If county expenditures exceed the county’s allocation, any excess payments will be county funded.
Emergency Placement Funds are intended to temporarily assist county departments of social services in addressing identified placement needs for children in the custody of the agencies who are awaiting a Medicaid leveled treatment placement. While children await the location of the placement, these funds can be used to prevent them from staying in a DSS office and enable local agencies to temporarily provide and arrange for essential needs of the individual to establish or maintain a placement.
Funds may be used only for youth opened for 109 Foster Care Case Management Services on a DSS-5027 or in the Child Welfare Information System to cover client specific costs claimed for purposes of the following:
1) Maintaining a crisis placement through a contract that pays a retainer to an identified placement provider who will accept a temporary emergency placement until the appropriate behavioral health treatment placement is located.
2) Paying a short-term temporary enhanced rate to an identified placement provider who is currently or will provide care and supervision to youth who have behaviors that require an exceptional level of supervision. For children who are awaiting a Medicaid leveled treatment placement, these funds can be used to pay for a placement that will aid in meeting the child’s immediate needs. The amount above the board rate will be reimbursed by submitting the DSS-1571 Part II.
3) Another local solution approved by DHHS as an Approved Alternative Option, that prevents a child in DSS custody from spending a night in the DSS office while waiting on the appropriate treatment placement as approved by NCDSS.
The Emergency Placement Funds are available for use immediately, and no prior approval is required except for purposes associated with a local alternative solution.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
$13,457 is allocated to the County with no additional County match required. If County expenditures exceed the allocation, any excess expenses / payments will be County funded.