Specifications include, but are not limited to: Vermont’s System of Care is designed to serve a variety of emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs of children and adolescents by expanding the State’s capacity to provide early and effective home- and community-based services to reduce reliance on residential and inpatient services, unless clinically required. While the goal may be to avoid inpatient treatment through early intervention, at times this level of care is needed and will result in the best possible outcomes for those youth and their families. Inpatient treatment for youth in Vermont is limited and only provided in one location in the state. This level of care for young Vermonters needs to be diversified to ensure that children and youth can access inpatient care at the right time and have their emergent needs fully addressed. This RFP specifically addresses the unique needs of the population for the most intensive level of care provided through inpatient services. Psychiatric hospitalization provides intensive inpatient care designed to help stabilize the youth, provide for immediate treatment needs, and quickly return the youth to their prior care setting (often a lower level of residential or home-based care) in order to continue their course of treatment. A. Population overview and additional information 1. General target population for services a) Children and youth up to age 18, male, female, and transgendered youth. Youth with high mental health acuity, including: (1)Acute mental health symptoms (2)Self-harming behaviors, suicidal attempts, and significant suicidal ideation (3)Homicidal ideation (4)Significant aggressive and violent behaviors (5)Substance use