Background to ORR Program
In 2008, Yolo County entered into an agreement with the federal Office of Administration for Children and Families to provide up to 24 beds at the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility (JDF) for Unaccompanied Children (UC) who meet ORR secure placement criteria. Yolo County has partnered with ORR for nearly a decade. In February 2017, when the program was up for renewal, the Probation Department applied for and was re-awarded an additional grant award. This provided Yolo County $2,944,588 of funding for the first year of the three year award, followed by $2,999,999 for the remaining two years.
On April 3, 2018, Probation Department staff presented an update to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors on the ORR program. Specifically, former Chief Probation Officer Brent Cardall, who retired in December 2018, highlighted several areas of concern, including:
- A change over time in the profile of the UC in secure placement which had resulted in more youth exhibiting aggressive ad assaultive behavior as well as mental illness; thus requiring increased services and supervision;
Staff injuries resulting from managing assaultive youth;
- An insufficient amount of funding available to effectively staff the facility and quickly respond to incidents; and
- High levels of stress on both Probation administration and staff resulting in excessive use of sick leave.
ORR Program Changes Since April 2018
After consideration of community feedback, the Board directed Probation to collaborate with ORR staff to explore solutions to the issues identified. Through negotiations with ORR, the County received a supplemental grant award to support operational adjustments, specifically to fund additional staff. This funding has allowed Probation to address the previous concerns related to staff injuries, staffing the facility, and excessive use of stress-related sick leave. Data regarding the ORR program is available in Attachment A to this staff report. Some key results are as follows:
- The average daily population has seen a continual decline with a 37% drop from February 2017 to April 2019.
- Since March 2018 staff injuries, resulting from management of assaultive youth behavior that resulted in a referral to workers compensation for medical assessment, clearance, or treatment, went down 30%. This may coincide with the increase in ORR program staffing in May 2018.
- While the average length of stay for the ORR youth continues to vary every year, the average length of stay has decreased by 20% since December 2018.
- Lastly, the ORR youth transfer outcomes show 0 lateral transfers to secure placement from January 2018 through April 2019.
ORR Program Budget and Staffing Changes
During the January 29, 2019 meeting, the Board approved continuing the ORR program at the budgetary level negotiated between the Probation Department and ORR for federal grant year February 2019 – January 2020, which includes a total of $6,747,216 that supports 38.62 FTE. This budget has been increased from previous years after a thorough review of the staffing and services needed to improve safety for staff and quality of life for the youth, as identified during the April 3, 2018 Board of Supervisors meeting. The following are the ORR funding amounts over the last two program years and the upcoming amount that ORR staff approved for 2019.
ORR Program Budget
| Program Year |
ORR Funding |
| February 2017 - January 2018 |
$2,944,588 |
| February 2018 - January 2019 (Original Funding Level) |
$2,999,999 |
| May 2018 - January 2019 (Mid-Year Funding Level Adjustment) |
$5,730,320 |
| February 2019 - January 2020 |
$6,747,216* |
*Amount for the grant program year (not the county fiscal year)
ORR Program Staffing
| Program Year |
Staff Employed with ORR Funds |
| February 2017 - January 2018 |
18.5 FTE |
| February 2018 - January 2019 (Original Funding Level) |
18.5 FTE |
| May 2018 - January 2019 (Mid-Year Funding Level Adjustment) |
27.5 FTE |
| February 2019 - January 2020 |
38.62 FTE |
The ORR program runs on a February to January program year; since the county budget already includes seven of the twelve budget months, a large portion of this amount has already been estimated into the current fiscal year’s departmental budget.
Overall JDF Program Changes
Since January 2019, Probation has reviewed its policies and procedures for the entire JDF program to determine opportunities for improvement. These improvements were broken down into health factors, youth safety factors, quality of life factors, administration and policy factors, and education factors. Over the past three months, many of these policies and procedures have been improved upon or changed to meet the needs of the ORR program and the overall JDF. Some of the identified items needing improvement have actionable next steps that are currently being pursued, with many of them to be completed by July 2019. The identified improvements and current status for implementation are included in Attachment B.
Upcoming Alterations to Behavioral Health Services
Currently, some mental health services are provided by Probation social services staff and some services are provided by Wellpath, theDepartment's contracted medical and mental health services provider. Probation is in the process of removing the element of bifurcation of services and taking responsibility for all behavioral health services to ensure comprehensive implementation of a trauma-informed mental health services system in the facility. Under this change Probation’s social services staff would provide all of the assessment, treatment, crisis intervention, and discharge planning for youth at the JDF with technical support from HHSA. |