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Commissioner Worley - Budget/Purchasing - To Accept and Appropriate a Department of Justice Grant from the Office for Victims of Crime to Serve Children Who Have Been Impacted by the Opioid Crisis and to Approve Four (4) New Positions that will be Grant Funded for the Three-Year Duration of the Grant (100% Federal Funds - $708,279)
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STAFF CONTACT
Pat Laws - Budget/Purchasing - 704-866-3771
BUDGET IMPACT
budget
Appropriate Additional Federal Funds. No additional County funds.
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BUDGET ORDINANCE IMPACT
N/A
BACKGROUND
The Gaston County, NC Project to Serve Children Impacted by the Opioid Crisis will bring together multiple county entities, substance abuse treatment providers, law enforcement, Courts, health care providers, and the faith-based community to collaborate in providing a seamless and integrated system of referrals and services for children who have been victimized by the opioid crisis in this County.
Under the supervision of Gaston County Health and Human Services-Children and Family Division, a Therapeutic Center will be initiated in a child-friendly space donated by a local church. The center will provide the following services for children impacted by substance abuse: supervised visitation therapeutic services for children in foster care whose case has been referred to the center by the Courts and program participation is a part of the disposition order; direct therapeutic services for opioid impacted children who fall into the service gap of having neither private insurance nor Medicaid; counseling and therapeutic services for foster care children who were removed from their homes because of substance abuse and are aging out of the system; children whose parents are receiving treatment through the Drug Diversion and Therapeutic Treatment program (DDaTT), a county initiative to support rehabilitation rather than incarceration for opioid users; and children whose parent(s) has been assigned by the Courts to the Restorative Justice Center, a licensed outpatient substance abuse treatment center that provides both intensive and regular out-patient services free of charge to offenders. All therapeutic services will be provided by licensed clinicians with expertise in providing trauma-informed care. Therapeutic services will be evidence-based using Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-TF-CBT.
Staff will include two licensed clinicians, and two licensed social workers, one serving as the Case Manager and the other functioning as the Project Coordinator for fifty percent of the time and the Community Advocate the other fifty percent. The program anticipates serving a minimum of 50 children each year of the program.
POLICY IMPACT
N/A
ATTACHMENTS
Budget Change Request