County Child Welfare Points of Contact

Medi-Cal Reforms: California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal

Medi-Cal reform efforts, California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) and Behavioral Health Community-Based Organized Networks of Equitable Care and Treatment (BH-CONNECT), creates new benefits and services, and streamlines processes with child welfare agencies, through Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans (MCPs) and County Mental Health Plans (MHPs) specialty mental health services (SMHS), respectively. Specifically, CalAIM establishes a new care coordination benefit, Enhanced Care Management (ECM), for specific populations enrolled in Medi-Cal managed care, including children and youth involved with the child welfare system.

County Child Welfare Managed Care Plan Memorandum of Understanding

The 2024 Medi-Cal Managed Care Contracts requires all MCPs to enter into memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with third party agencies, including county child welfare agencies, to contractually ensure the provision of whole-system, person-centered care. DHCS mandated that MCPs make good faith efforts to enter into MOUs with County Child Welfare Agency (CWS) by January 1, 2024. The County Child Welfare MOU seeks to improve care coordination between MCPs and CWSs for children involved in child welfare by fostering communication and understanding of each party’s respective services and operations. DHCS also requires MCPs to have new Child Welfare Liaison positions within the MCP to support coordination with county child welfare agencies regarding ECM and other benefits.

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Children and Family Services Division (CFSD) has developed a points of contact (POC) lists for county child welfare agencies and Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans (MCPs) to support coordination efforts.

Managed Care Plan Child Welfare Liaison

MCP’s are required to have a MCP Child Welfare Liaison, who is the designated individual(s) assigned to ensure the needs of children and youth involved with child welfare are met. MCP Child Welfare Liaison contact information for child welfare agencies is available here: https://www.cfsd.dss.ca.gov/cwdab/Default.asp.

Please email cwshealth@dss.ca.gov to obtain the password.

This MCP Child Welfare Liaison points of contact list for county child welfare agencies list will be updated quarterly, as the information is provided to CDSS by DHCS.

County Child Welfare Point of Contact List

The CDSS CFSD has developed a list of child welfare agency points of contact list for Medi-Cal MCPs to support care coordination and collaboration.

Please email cwshealth@dss.ca.gov to obtain the list.