County Manager Brian Manning on Monday introduced a proposal for Burke County to pursue a single, vertically integrated foster‑care provider and asked the Board of Commissioners for direction to draft a request for qualifications (RFQ).

Manning said the model — “we're calling it vertical integration” — would combine recruitment, marketing, licensing and training with clinical assessment and case‑planning services so children entering foster care can be placed faster and receive timely behavioral and clinical services. He emphasized the presentation was informational and that he was not asking the board to take immediate action.

Manning pointed to county data showing above‑average intake and extended time in care. “As of last year, the number of children in care [was] roughly a 185,” he said, and added that “across placement, different types of placement, the average length in care is 1,298 days,” a span he described as “substantially longer than we'd like it to be.” He said a likely driver of elevated intake is substance use and overdose in parts of the county and presented a two‑year overdose heat map overlaid with child‑welfare intake locations to illustrate geographic correlation.

Manning said the county currently relies on one full‑time employee to manage recruitment, licensing and training while paying multiple private vendors for clinical services, which can be fragmented and difficult for families to access. The single‑provider approach, he said, is intended to create a “one‑stop shop” for foster families, deliver consistent training and licensing, and make it easier for providers to offer on‑site clinical services and rapid response when a child enters care.

Manning described several operational goals for an RFQ: prequalifying vendors who can rapidly respond to referrals, increasing the number of in‑county licensed foster parents, delivering services locally to reduce transportation barriers, and doing so in a budget‑neutral way. “I don't think this is a cost‑saving initiative, but I don't think it'll cost us additional money,” he said, noting private providers can bill Medicaid for some services while the county would consolidate payments now made to multiple vendors.

During his departmental update later in the meeting, Department of Social Services Director Corey Fisher Wellman provided the most recent head count: 187 children experiencing foster care in October, with six new entries and four exits that month. Wellman reiterated recruiting and retention challenges for CPS social workers and described local efforts such as Guardian ad Litem coordination and opioid‑settlement‑funded programs intended to keep families together.

Manning said staff plan to draft an RFQ and return to the board with options and recommended contract approaches at the regular meeting. He asked commissioners for direction on whether to move forward with posting an RFQ and emphasized the next step would be a competitive solicitation and vetting of potential providers.

What happens next: The foster‑care RFQ concept will remain on the regular meeting agenda; if the board directs staff to proceed, a draft RFQ will be posted and brought back with recommended vendors or contracting approaches for future board action.