- ACHSA was successful in its fight to protect community-based programs operated by its community mental health agencies from huge proposed curtailments included in the County's budget plan. Of the originally proposed almost $50 million in budget reductions to address the Department of Mental Health's (DMH's) long-term structural deficit, less than 5 percent of the total curtailments ended up coming from reductions to community agency contracts.
- ACHSA led County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and DMH planning efforts toward the successful development of a groundbreaking comprehensive assessment system, directed by community agencies, for children entering the foster care system, which was endorsed by the County Board of Supervisors.
- ACHSA, after a lengthy struggle and budget testimony before the Board of Supervisors, was successful in getting the Board to approve an additional 25 Suitable Placement Deputy Probation Officers in order to significantly reduce caseloads, so that the needs of Probation youth in ACHSA agency programs could be properly addressed.
- ACHSA was responsible for very significant changes to the DMH boilerplate contract which benefited community mental health agencies, including the addition of major due process protections; the addition of language allowing greater flexibility in the use of contract funds; the addition of language putting a timeframe on the payment of approved contract agency claims; and the deletion of language which would have prevented contract agencies from pursuing claims against the County for disputes regarding entitlement to payment.
- ACHSA was responsible for very significant changes to the DCFS/Probation group home and DCFS foster family agency (FFA) boilerplate contracts which benefited ACHSA's group homes and FFAs, including the elimination of language giving the County the right to approve all agency staff; the elimination of the inclusion of some unfair and unreasonable mandatory performance measures; the removal of major proposed restrictions to hard fought due process protections; and the removal of language which would have allowed the removal of children at any time "in County's sole discretion," regardless of it reasonableness.
- ACHSA successfully fought off DMH efforts to withhold millions of dollars of agencies' Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) payments mid-way through the fiscal year, after the State withheld these funds from the County, arguing that this would cause undue hardship to agencies in the form of unanticipated, unmanageable cash flow problems.
- ACHSA obtained the Board of Supervisors' approval for a Board motion instructing the County CEO, Auditor-Controller, and DCFS to eliminate duplicative audits for out-of-home foster care placements, resulting in a major shift away from twice-a-year audits of ACHSA's FFAs and group homes and the implementation of a plan for a once-a-year, single DCFS/Auditor-Controller program audit.
- ACHSA intervention with the Board of Supervisors' Juvenile Justice Deputies caused Probation to develop the internal management mechanisms needed to dramatically reduce the time required for ACHSA's Suitable Placement programs to receive Medi-Cal cards and payment for the Probation youth within their care.
- ACHSA advocacy resulted in the allocation of half a million dollars to establish the first ongoing respite care program for families of severely emotionally disturbed children in Los Angeles County and the State of California, with the use of DMH Mental Health Services Act funding, which is expected to provide the necessary support required for hundreds of those families to be able to maintain their children at home.
- ACHSA involvement in the DCFS Performance Measures Task Groups resulted in the Department's agreement to only report system-wide results (rather than individual agency results) for the four permanency performance measures beyond the control of individual agencies, as well as the setting of fair and appropriate benchmarks for each of the performance measures.
- ACHSA advocacy resulted in a major improvement in the Probation Juvenile Hall release process, which benefited both Probation youth and ACHSA agencies, through the development of a written policy which significantly shortened the time that providers have to wait for youth released from the Halls.
- ACHSA successfully negotiated major revisions to the DMH contract negotiation package, which resulted in a significantly more user-friendly and streamlined document, and established the principle that when mid-year program changes occur only those parts of the package that are impacted need to be modified.
- ACHSA was successful in getting DCFS to issue a policy on Team Decision-Making which requires DCFS workers to meet with residential providers before removing a child from placement, unless there are clearly identified exigent circumstances.
- ACHSA wrote a detailed "Position Statement on Juvenile Probation Intake and Referral Policy" and met with Probation to discuss its implications, resulting in the provision of more useful assessment information for referred youth and a policy requiring all group homes to interview youth before they are accepted.
- ACHSA advocacy spurred Board of Supervisors' approval of a motion urging voter support for the passage of Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), and ACHSA Proposition 63 children's and adult planning retreats produced position papers providing recommendations to DMH which were instrumental in influencing MHSA implementation.
- ACHSA, following its very successful forum on the County's future use of group homes for foster care, wrote the major elements of the DCFS "Foundation Document" for Residentially Based Services (RBS), which provides the framework for the future vision and utilization of RBS in Los Angeles County.
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