Estimated Timeline

RFP Issued: Friday, June 18, 2021

Question Submission Period Ends: Monday, June 28, 2021 by 5PM

Answers Posted for Submitted Questions: Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 5PM (originally Friday, July 2, 2021 by 5PM()

Proposals Due: Monday, July 12, 2021 by 5PM

Award Decision Finalized: Friday, July 30, 2021

(Dates may be subject to change)

Foster Care Pilot for Juvenile Justice System Impacted Youth Request for Proposals (RFP)

The Foster Care Pilot for Juvenile Justice System Impacted Youth is a collaboration between the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department (JPD) and the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) to minimize the use of secure detention for youth ordered to out of home placement by collaborating with one or more community-based, licensed foster family agencies to support a new foster care strategy for justice impacted youth. Funds for this project are derived from unspent state apportionment revenue to JPD from prior years. These funds will be provided to DCYF who will administer the RFP, enter into a grant agreement with the selected grantee(s), and monitor and ensure compliance with grant terms. JPD and DCYF will work in close collaboration to set grant terms and monitoring and reporting requirements.

JPD operates Juvenile Hall, the official reception and detention center for youth detained in San Francisco, and provides pre- and post-adjudication probation services to youth who are alleged or have been found to have committed law violations, including youth who have been ordered to be removed from their home and placed in the foster care system by the Juvenile Court (“out of home placement”).

In 2020, youth ordered to out of home placement by the Juvenile Court constituted between 12-16% of all youth on probation in San Francisco, and 47% of youth detained in Juvenile Hall. Youth ordered to out of home placement in San Francisco have been found to spend 25 additional days in custody before they are released to a placement, whether to a resource family (foster care family) or Short-Term Residential Treatment Program (STRTP, previously called a group home). Recent developments have led to a shrinking array of out of home placement options. In December 2020, the California Department of Social Services decertified all out of state placements, straining the available capacity of local and state STRTPs. With the closure of the San Francisco Girls Home, there are currently only two STRTPs operating in San Francisco. Furthermore, a May 2021 UC Berkeley analysis found that 61% of youth placed in California STRTPs between January 1, 2019-July 31, 2020 JPD ran away, with 81% of girls running away at least once. The UC Berkeley report made the following recommendation:

“Continuum of Care Reform, a California state law that transformed the foster care system, mandates that county placing agencies, including SFJPD, prioritize placing youth in home-based settings before considering congregate care options. Over the course of 2020, SFJPD greatly increased the proportion of youth who were in home-based placements with a resource family. However, there are limited resource family options available to youth. Currently SFJPD works with one non-relative resource family. All other resource families that host a youth are either relatives or kin. As a result, youth who do not have a relative or kin who can serve as a resource family, or require higher levels of care that cannot be accommodated in a relative or kin home, do not have the opportunity to be placed in a home-based setting. SFJPD needs to recruit more non-relative resource families, including resource families who are certified to provide intensive services foster care (ISFC).”

In order to minimize the use of secure detention for youth ordered to out of home placement and achieve better outcomes for youth and families, particularly Black, Indigenous, and youth of color, who are disproportionately impacted by out of home placement and detention, JPD is collaborating with DCYF to issue this RFP for a pilot program to provide emergency and long-term placements for youth ordered to out of home placement by the San Francisco Juvenile Court, in licensed resource family homes in the Bay Area, including Intensive Services Foster Care (ISFC) approved resource family homes, through culturally responsive, youth- centered strategies, that advance racial equity.

This RFP will provide up to $800,000 in funding from September 1st, 2021 through August 31st, 2022 for the Foster Care Pilot for Juvenile Justice System Impacted Youth .