The nonprofit agencies that serve some of the Central Valley’s most vulnerable youth have found themselves stuck between the proverbial rock and the hardest of decisions.

Marijke Rowland

The Merced FOCUS

After the largest insurer of nonprofit foster care agencies across California announced it was pulling out of the market and would not renew policies last year, organizations had a choice to make — find new insurance at a much higher rate, or stop placing youth with foster families.

For some agencies, like longtime Modesto-based nonprofit provider Sierra Vista Child & Family Services, the cost increase was too much. So last November, the organization — which has provided group-home care, foster care and other family services in the region since 1972 — shut down its foster care placemen

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