This partnership was established by the now defunct El Paso County Child Welfare Board more than a decade ago to support the emergency needs of children in our community who are removed from a neglectful environment by Child Protective Services (CPS) and urgently placed in foster care.  Community Partners of El Paso stocks and manages the Rainbow Room closet in our community that directly provides emergency items for children under CPS care.

When the County dissolved the Child Welfare Board in 2010, the County through a small budget appropriation under General Assistance continued to support Community Partners of El Paso and CPS to meet the urgent clothing and personal care needs of children in the foster care system.  We have been collaborating with Community Partners of El Paso under an outdated evergreen MOU from 2013.

This updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) amends the prior MOU summarizing allowable services to include other non-emergency child welfare needs such as the purchase of toddler beds, lock boxes and fire extinguishers for foster care providers to comply with state care regulations, update reimbursement rates for child crisis service providers who provide emergency shelter for children in CPS care, the purchase of additional items for the Rainbow Room closet, establish a fiscal year term date, set new funding amounts and outline both parties’ responsibilities. 

Funding in the amount of $30,000 is budgeted and available in:

GF-CHILDWBRD-OPS EXP-GEN

COGF-1000-0000000-431-40-40000-0291-00000-600309-

This is a $20,000 increase to the prior MOU amount of $10,000. The increase reflects the updated allowable services and will not impact the general fund.