RBWO - Room, Board and Watchful Oversight

Effective Immediately, all RBWO/Residential Provider Applications will be reviewed for a potential contract; however, DJJ will only award new RBWO/Residential contracts in July-August of each fiscal year.

Room, Board and Watchful Oversight (RBWO) involves the delivery of lodging, food, and attentive and responsible care to children in the juvenile justice system. Established in 2007, RBWO is administered by the Department of Juvenile Justice Division of Community Services – Office of Residential and Community Based Services and the Department of Human Services. RBWO is part of the DJJ commitment that every child has a safe place to live, adequately nutritious meals, and continuous watchful oversight to meet basic safety needs.

The following program categories were established for Room, Board, and Watchful Oversight:

• Child Caring Institutions (CCI)
• Child Placing Agencies (CPA)
• In the best oversight environment, youth placement is based on personal behaviors and characteristics.

Four main areas of a child’s life are assessed to determine the best placement:

• School Adjustment
• Performance in the Home Environment
• Social and Community Activities
• Health and Developmental Factors

The Office of Residential and Community Based Services currently has five residential treatment services specialists assigned to four regions. Each focus on supporting DJJ and their assigned providers by:

• Holding providers accountable for the care of children through monitoring and inspections
• Developing, measuring, and enforcing provider contract deliverables
• Mediating provider concerns
• Assisting providers with ongoing training needs to serve DJJ youth
• Assisting in placement, removal, and step-downs of DJJ-placed youth
• Acting as a liaison to DHS and DFCS for provider and child placement initiatives and concerns

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Please note that attendance at a Department of Juvenile Justice Pre-Onboarding DJJ Informational Meeting is mandatory to initiate the onboarding process and be considered for a DJJ contract. These meetings are scheduled biannually and will take place from 1:00 pm- 2:00 pm on the 4th Thursday in February and September of each year. Please send an email to [email protected] to be registered for a meeting. A Microsoft Teams link will be shared with you days before the meeting. 

DJJ executes New WRAP and RBWO contracts at the beginning of each fiscal year (July 1st).

***Online applications are required for each service type. For example, if you are providing group home care and foster care, you must submit a separate online application for each one. Please note that the required documents submitted with each online application serve as a significant part of the provider enrollment process, so please submit all required documents as requested.

Click the link below to apply for a RBWO Contract with DJJ.

RBWO/Residential Provider Application for Residential Services

RBWO Vendor Services

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