On behalf of The Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) will issue an opportunity to public children services agencies (PCSA) to participate in a TFH Pilot Program. This program is focused on recruiting and supporting treatment foster homes that are willing to accept and support higher acuity children with additional one-on-one support, on-call 24/7 casework, counseling for crisis response, training, and marketing.

This pilot is modeled off the Northwest Treatment Foster Care (TFC) Partnership between Sandusky, Seneca, Wyandot, and Ottawa PCSAs.

DCY is supporting one pilot partnership in five designated regions: Northeast (tan), East Central (violet), Southeast (red), Southwest (green), Northwest (blue)

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To be considered for selection for the TFH Pilot Program a Children Services Treatment Foster Home Pilot Application must be completed by each participating PCSA. An application can be requested from DCY-Tiered-Foster-Care@childrenandyouth.ohio.gov.

Methodology

The TFH Pilot Program is funded with one hundred percent state funds.

County partnerships will receive an allocation of $75,000 per participating PCSA which will be provided to the partnerships fiscal and administrative lead PCSA. A portion of the funding will be advanced in SFY24 and the remainder in SFY25.

The Northwest TFC Partnership group will receive payment for the provision of technical assistance to PCSAs participating in the pilot. Payment will be made to the partnership group’s identified fiscal and administrative lead agency. A portion of the funding will be advanced in SFY24 and the remainder in SFY25.

The funding period will be on a state fiscal year basis for 2024 and 2025.

No Random Moment Sampling (RMS) codes will be available for this program. The direct project codes will be communicated by the CFIS Help Desk.

Allowable Program Activities

The treatment foster home program funding is to be used for:

• New Identified team member’s salary and benefits employed by fiscal and administrative lead PCSA.
• Pressley Ridge Treatment Foster Care Pre-Service Training
• Supplemental marketing costs
• Parent cafes (provided by DCY) and
• Other additional team member support that includes but not limited to business cards, treatment parent retention support, and non-reimbursable foster parent training stipends.  

The treatment foster home program technical assistance funding is to be used for:

• The provision of technical assistance support for other PCSAs participating in the pilot which includes the following elements:
• Position Descriptions: Share position description and necessary team characteristics to ensure success with caregivers and county leadership.
• Pilot Onboarding: As pilot areas hire team members, the NW TFC Partnership will help with onboarding the team members in an initial overview of the work, best practices and lessons learned.
• Treatment Home Recruitment: Share recruitment ideas and successes (i.e., what was provided to families, where were connections made, etc.)
• Ongoing Support: be available for monthly office hours or calls at established times to meet with pilot counties to talk through concerns.  

DCY will provide additional support as needed for:

• Coordinated licensing specialist support
• Regional Training Center caregiver coach
• Access to marketing coordinators through the Adoption and Resource Home Recruitment and Marketing Campaign and
• Assistance and guidance in understanding treatment foster care requirements for recommending agencies.

For questions regarding fiscal reporting please contact your ODJFS fiscal Supervisor or the CFIS Help Desk at CFIS_HELP_DESK@jfs.ohio.gov.  Please direct questions regarding eligibility, allowable activities, and reporting requirements, to DCY at DCY-Tiered-Foster-Care@childrenandyouth.ohio.gov.