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County receives millions in state funds for foster youth with behavioral conditions
Turlock’s Hope Forward facility to expand campus
Hope Forward
State funding is going to the expansion of Aspiranet’s Hope Forward campus in south Turlock near the Merced County line. Plans include nearly doubling the campus’ capacity from 16 to 31 and building more than 40,000 square feet of new facilities on the 11-acre property (Journal file photo).

MODESTO — The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to accept an $8.5 million grant that will establish programs for foster youth who have serious behavioral-health conditions.

Stanislaus County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, on behalf of the Central Valley Consortium (made up of Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties), will be the lead agency in administering the Children’s Crisis Continuum Pilot Program grant — provided by the California Department of Social Services.

The grant is retroactive to July 1, 2023, and runs through June 30, 2028.

“You have to remember the need in the community,” said District 2 Supervisor Vito Chiesa. “This has been a missing spot in the three-county area. Kids have been staying in the hospital and/or being shipped out to Sacramento or some other area. So, down in south Turlock there’s going to be this facility that is much needed.”

In 2021, according to county staff, the CVC began meeting with Aspiranet, a community-based organization contracted to provided foster care and behavioral-health support and services in all three counties. The following year, Aspiranet received more than $33 million through the state funds geared to expand children’s behavioral health services. And in August, the supervisors approved the expansion of Aspiranet’s 11-acre Hope Forward Campus on Youngstown Road in south Turlock. Upgrades will include more than 40,000 square feet of new facilities, including a psychiatric health center, buildings for vocational and recreation services, and a visitation center.

The CVC was established in 2020 to develop strategies for improving behavioral health and welfare for youth residing in the three counties, according to county BHRS director Tony Vartan, “Since the formation, the behavioral health, child welfare and criminal justice departments have come together to address needs of foster youth,” said Vartan during Tuesday’s presentation. “Especially those with complex behavior health needs.”

Unmet needs of foster youth locally include: lack of local crisis-level care, a lack of placements that address the unique needs of the region’s foster youth, a limited coordination of care with step-down and/or after-care, limited transitional services to support youth and families as they step down from out-of-home or crisis care, and lack of highly trained and supported resources capable of addressing foster youth’s complex needs.

Over the life of the grant, Aspiranet would receive just over $5.8 million, while Stanislaus county would get close to $2 million. Merced County would receive about $400,000, and San Joaquin County would get $280,000.