Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative Evidence-Based and Community-Defined Evidence Practices Round Three: Early Childhood Wraparound Services

As part of the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), the CA Dept. of Health Care Services (DHCS) released a Request for Application (RFA) on August 7, 2023, seeking proposals for the third round of grant funding totaling $60 million. For the third round of funding, DHCS seeks proposals to scale early childhood wraparound services among adults who work with infants, young children, expectant and new parents, and caregivers.

Authorized as part of the 2021 Budget Act, CYBHI is a multi-year, multi-department package of investments that reimagines the systems that support behavioral health (BH) and wellness for all California’s children, youth, and their families. Efforts focus on promoting social and emotional well-being, preventing behavioral health challenges, and providing equitable, appropriate, timely, and accessible services for emerging and existing BH needs for children and youth ages 0-25. The $4.7 billion investment of state General Funds for CYBHI will improve access to, and the quality of, BH services for all children and youth in California, regardless of payer. In Round Three, DHCS seeks to scale early childhood wraparound services to support relevant skill building among adults who work with infants and young children and expectant and new parents and caregivers. Wraparound services recognize both the impact of early childhood experiences on behavioral health in the short, medium and long terms as well as the need to support both professional and personal caregivers in facilitating healthy early childhood social and emotional development. Specifically, this grant funding round aims to: · Increase access, sustainability, and coordination of home visiting services and consultation services that are culturally and linguistically representative of and responsive to the needs of communities they serve. · Improve coordination of services for pregnant and parenting people, their partners, mothers, fathers, infants, and families. · Strengthen child and parent/caregiver relationships, improve family dynamics, and increase parent/caregiver involvement through positive parenting practices (e.g., skills and strategies that help support the healthy development of children). · Improve caregiver wellbeing, as well as newborn and child health and development (e.g., enhance maternal health, reduce emotional and behavioral challenges, increase early identification of developmental concerns, reduce child injuries, abuse and maltreatment). · Strengthen the home-visiting workforce through building a diverse workforce and identifying challenges that impact care for populations of focus. · Reduce health disparities through improving equitable access to services for parents, caregivers, and children in California that are culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs of the priority populations. For Round Three, the following EBPs and/or CDEPs will be scaled through competitive grant awards: · Healthy Families America; · Nurse Family Partnership; · Family Spirit; · Parents as Teachers; · Select practice components (e.g., child-specific clinical consultation) of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation; and Additional practices and programs focused on early childhood wraparound services that meet eligibility criteria. DHCS recognizes that the short-listed evidence-based practices may not have been developed or normalized for populations of focus. Additional practices and programs relating to early childhood wraparound services may be considered eligible for grant funding with the submission of supplementary material.