A federal review of the Border Children’s Mental Health Collaborative (BCMHC) was released Oct. 26. The review, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, listed several weaknesses in the program that could jeopardize El Paso’s chances to continue receiving federal support.
“The Border Children’s Mental Health Collaborative has many strengths, including effective wraparound services provided by dedicated care coordinators, a very creative social marketing effort, committed interagency partners, and an emerging and promising youth program,” the report states. “These strengths will be especially important in the next two years as the El Paso Collaborative embarks on a move toward becoming family-driven and develops plans for sustainability.
“At the same time, however, the issues identified in this site visit report are considerable. The lack of evaluation data, the movement of care management without involvement of the federal project officer, the lack of progress on family and issues with personnel create significant concerns, and unless addressed in a timely manner, may jeopardize the ability for El Paso to continue receiving federal support,” states the report.
SAMHSA awarded the BCMHC a $9.3 million grant in 2002. Last summer, El Paso County Judge Dolores Briones pushed to re-bid BCMHC contracts, going against the recommendations of the BCMHC Project Director and the Federal Project Officer. Briones challenged the performance of TriWest Group, the Boulder, Colo., based human service evaluation and management consulting company contracted to write the grant in 2001, and requested that BCMHC re-bid all contracts; El Paso County Commissioners awarded the contract to LKG, a local evaluation company headed by Ruben “Sonny” Garcia.
Among the most notable problems SAMHSA identified were a disregard of federal requirements of the original grant and lack of evaluation data needed to evaluate progress of youths enrolled in the program. In addition, the report cites issues with personnel that have left the program disorganized and at risk of losing federal support.
The SAMHSA review found that since LKG was awarded the contract in fall 2005 there has been no data collection. Additionally, the LKG contract is larger than the TriWest contract, with no evidence as to what new services are being performed with the additional money, the report states. The LKG contract requires specific reports of monthly deliverables. These deliverables were requested by the federal site review team but were not received, according to the report.
The SAMHSA review recommended establishing an interim plan for the administration of the Collaborative subsequent to the recent resignation Project Director. Approval from the federal project officer is required for this move. Judge Briones’ term as County Judge ends as of Jan. 1, 2007. County Judge-elect Anthony Cobos will fill her seat and the report encouraged them to work together to ensure a smooth transition of leadership.
SAMHSA also stressed the importance of developing a plan for sustainability focusing on influencing state policy to allow access to Federal Title IV-E and Medicaid for youth being served by the BCMHC.
El Paso is ranked 49th nationally in child and adult mental health funding and 48th nationally in child protective services funding. The goal of the Border Children’s Mental Health Collaborative (BCMHC) is to allow the community to expand and develop services and supports within El Paso, so youth with severe emotional disturbances do not have to leave the area for treatment.
Newspaper Tree presents the SAMHSA report as a matter of public record. [link]
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