Child Protective Services - Respite Support Program

Resource parents are the primary and most critical intervention that children/youth receive when they are placed in out of home care due to abuse and/or neglect. Resource parents are comprised of relatives, non-related extended family members (NREFMs), and community members, and all must balance their own personal responsibilities with providing guidance and nurturing experiences for the children and youth placed in their homes. This can prove to be extremely challenging at times, and respite care is an important tool in preventing burnout from the demands of fostering.

Resource parents must follow the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard when parenting children/youth placed in their care. The Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard refers to a standard characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that maintain a child/youth's health, safety, and best interests, while at the same time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of a child. Decisions made under the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard extend to the use of occasional short-term babysitters and alternative caregivers.

Sacramento County is soliciting proposals for a 1-year pilot project from agencies with experience in providing respite coordination and support to resource families in Sacramento County. This project will be funded through a portion of the Flexible Family Supports and Home-Based Foster Care funding allocation. The purpose of this RFP is to meet the respite needs of an estimated 333 families during the year. In alignment with the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard, resource families will identify short-term respite providers from their individual support networks. Each family will be allotted 50 respite hours at an established respite rate of $25 per hour, for a total not to exceed $416,250 in direct payments to respite providers. Proposers to include in budget submission additional administrative costs required to provide oversight and operationalization of the identified RFP services, not to exceed $83,250 (20%). Proposers to include indirect costs at 10% de minimis rate of modified total direct costs.