The Placer County Board of Supervisors today voted to approve an agreement between the county Health and Human Services department and Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento for additional shelter beds for children and foster youth should the need arise.

The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento agreement is set to run Dec. 15, 2016, through Dec. 14, 2019, in the amount of $107,220 per year. The agreement is supported through state and federal funding with no cost to the county general fund.

The approval comes after the closure of the county’s children’s emergency shelter, as required by California state Assembly Bill 403, known as Continuum of Care Reform.

CCR is a comprehensive reform effort to ensure that foster youth have their day-to-day physical, emotional and mental health needs met in family-like settings whenever possible, to shorten time spent in institutional placements and to keep children and youth in their communities.

“It is our hope that children and youth can be placed with foster families as quickly as possible,” said Twylla Abrahamson, acting director of Placer County Children’s System of Care. “This agreement will help ensure that in the event of an emergency our youth will have their needs met in the best possible setting.”

Last July the board approved a contract agreement with Koinonia Foster Homes to recruit, train and manage a network of emergency, respite and traditional foster care homes.

The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento agreement provides an option to place children and foster youth in emergency shelter beds if all Koinonia family beds are full.