Supervisors hear explanation of mental-health and out-of-county placement contracts pulled from consent agenda

Del Norte County's Board of Supervisors approved a package of consent‑agenda items that included the county's agreement with the Department of Health Care Services for specialty mental health services, an interagency agreement for placement of foster and juvenile probation youth in an out‑of‑county short‑term residential therapeutic program (STRTP), and a renewal with an out‑of‑county residential treatment provider.

Raynell Brown, director of the county Department of Health and Human Services, explained the consent items after the board pulled items 6, 7 and 8 for public comment. Brown said the specialty mental health agreement is a state required contract under the Welfare and Institutions Code and defines a spectrum of Medi‑Cal specialty mental health services available to eligible county residents.

Brown read core elements of the DHCS agreement’s Attachment A, which lists medication support, day treatment, day rehabilitation, crisis intervention and stabilization, adult and crisis residential treatment, psychiatric health facility services, intensive services and targeted case management, among other services. In fiscal year 2024–25, Brown said the county served 1,033 unduplicated clients under the specialty mental health services agreement.

On consent item 7, Brown described a required collaboration between social services and behavioral health for placements when county youth need specialty mental health services and there are no appropriate in‑county placements. The county uses out‑of‑county STRTP facilities when beds and levels of care are needed. Brown identified 4Kids2Kids in Carpinteria as one contracted STRTP and stated the county had one current placement there; over the past fiscal year the county placed four youth and one probation youth in STRTP facilities.

Consent item 8 was a renewal of a contract with Mid Valley Recovery Facilities for residential treatment services. Brown said the requested not‑to‑exceed amount remains $40,000 for fiscal year 2024–25; last year the county served one client at Mid Valley at a cost of about $4,400. Brown noted the county also used Granite Wellness in Grass Valley last year; cumulative placements across providers totaled nine clients at about $63,000.

Brown and other speakers emphasized that many of these services are provided out of county because Del Norte lacks in‑county specialty residential facilities. Multiple public commenters urged transparency about what services the contracts provide and expressed concern about distant placements and family access. After the public comment and Brown’s explanations, the board approved items 1 through 14 of the consent agenda, including items 6–8, on a recorded vote.