County says Welcome Homes program reduced out-of-county placements, expands local capacity

Sacramento County's Department of Child, Family and Adult Services (DCFAS) reported progress Feb. 25 on the Welcome Homes program, which provides short-term placement and services to youth in the county's care.

Deputy Director Melissa Lloyd told the Board of Supervisors that between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024 the Welcome Homes served 85 unduplicated youth; the average daily census across the county's homes was 11 youth and the average length of stay was six days. Demographic reporting showed 58% of residents identified as female and 61% as children or youth of color; the average age was 13.

Lloyd said the program's operating budget for FY 2024-25 is heavily weighted to staffing, with contracted services and facility overhead next. She told the board that staffing increases included adding a second administrator to provide direct presence in homes and training oversight; DCFAS plans continued staff training aligned with community care licensing rules.

The report included incident and discharge data. Unauthorized absences were the most frequently reported incident. DCFAS said 47% of discharges went to home-based settings and 19% to partner locations; 16% of discharges were to family members. The county reported three incidents narrowly resulting in staff injury this quarter and that some youth required hospitalization for acute behavioral-health needs. Health services and DCFAS staff said youth with acute mental-health needs are referred to area hospitals and psychiatric treatment beds as clinically appropriate and that the county is coordinating placement protocols with hospitals and the Sheriff's Department.

Lloyd outlined placement-capacity expansion: as of December the county reported 46 additional placement beds created through contract partners; staff said that number had risen to 47 by the Feb. 25 hearing and that another partner will assume operation of the girls' home April 1. DCFAS said the county's placement work reduced out-of-county placements and increased relative placements by 14% year over year; county-level foster-population counts declined about 26% from January 2024 to January 2025.

Supervisors asked for additional trend reporting. Board members requested future quarter-to-quarter comparisons for incident and discharge outcomes, and more detail on total unduplicated youth served annually (including contract-providers and county homes). The board adopted a resolution accepting the quarter-2 report and the department said it will add the requested comparisons in future updates.