COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Human Services Agency

DATE:

May 14, 2002

BOARD MEETING DATE:

June 18, 2002

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Maureen D. Borland, Director, Human Services Agency

Stuart Oppenheim, Director, Children and Family Services

SUBJECT:

Resolution Approving the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Three-Year Plan for FFY 2003-2005

Recommendation

Adopt a resolution to approve the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) Three-Year Plan for FFY 2003-2005 as required by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS).

Background

The Federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 provided funds for states to develop and implement a program for promoting safe and stable families to provide both primary community-based prevention activities and services for families at risk.

The Five-Year Implementation Plan and the subsequent Three-Year Plan were approved by the Board and accepted by the CDSS. In those plans Peninsula Partnership was designated to oversee the development and implementation of San Mateo County's local plan. Daly City, Pacifica, San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, South San Francisco and Pescadero are the Peninsula Partnership collaborative sites.

This funding is used to enhance local collaboration between cities, school districts, local service providers and the County to provide services for children ages 0 through 8 to increase child well being by helping prepare them for school, and ensure they are academically successful by third grade, and decrease the risk of child abuse and neglect.

Discussion

This three-year plan again designates the Peninsula Partnership to oversee the implementation of the PSSF programs by funding the nine members of the local collaborative to provide prevention and intervention services. The annual plan update, which is part of the three-year plan document, attests to the successes of the local collaborative around kindergarten readiness, academic success and other measures of child well being. Each site with kindergarten readiness programs reported success, and 75% of the schools with Family Resource Centers met their Academic Performance Index goals of a 5% increase in children at grade level. This three-year plan also reflects the new guidelines advising that 20% of the PSSF funding must be used for Adoption Promotion and Support and an additional 20% must be used for Time-limited Family Reunification, and support the seven federal required outcomes for child welfare services. These requirements are being met as the nine collaboratives, and their Family Resource Centers, work with the Human Services Agency in the implementation of Family to Family, a restructuring of the child welfare system.

Vision Alignment

The resolution approving the PSSF Three-Year Plan keeps the commitment to Ensure basic health and safety for all, and goal number 6: All children grow up healthy in safe and supportive homes and neighborhoods. This plan contributes to this goal by designating that the funds be given to Peninsula Partnership to support the local collaborative, that provides prevention and early intervention services to children 0 through 8 years of age and their families.

Fiscal Impact

No County general funds are involved and No Net County Costs are committed as part of this three-year plan. The State of California is expected to provide the match for the Federal PSSF funds as it has done in the previous eight years. While CDSS has not sent San Mateo the allocation letter, it is expected that the funding for each of the three years of the plan will be at or above $470,077, the allocation for FFY 2001-2002.