Everyone in the community plays a role in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Colorado has one toll-free phone number to report child abuse and neglect 24/7, 365 days a year. Please call the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-844-CO-4-KIDS (1-844-264-5437) to report concerns about a child’s safety and well-being. All calls are confidential and will be routed to the county where a child resides. If it is an emergency or you are witnessing a child in a life-threatening situation, call 911 immediately. If you have a concern regarding Adult Protection, please call 530.2500 during normal business hours. After normal business hours, please call police dispatch at 539.2596 and your call will be routed to an on-call case worker.
Child Protective Services (CPS) is a program mandated under CRS 19-3-100.5 for the protection of children alleged to be abused and neglected. This program provides specialized welfare services that seek to prevent dependency, abuse and neglect of children. The Child Protective Services program receives, screens and investigates allegations of child abuse and neglect, performs assessments of child safety, assesses the imminent risk of harm to the children and evaluates conditions that support or refute the alleged abuse or neglect and need for emergency intervention.
This program also provides services designed to stabilize a family in crisis and to preserve the family unit by increasing safety and reducing risk factors. This program provides an array of services, Family Group Decision Making, Family Preservation Services case management, parent aide and other in-home family support services. In addition, services to promote permanence, stability and continuity of care are provided for children who enter out-of-home care. Services include, but are not limited to case management, permanency planning, provision of out-of-home care, kinship foster care, adoptive and foster home recruitment, other out-of-home services to individuals or families, and assistance to young adults in transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Child Welfare Services constitutes a specialized set of services that are intended to
strengthen the ability of a family to protect and care for their own children, minimize harm to
children and youth, and ensure timely permanency planning. Services are aimed at
stabilizing the family situation and strengthening the family’s capacity to care for their
children. When safety is not possible within the family, services are focused on the chi|d’s
need for a stable, permanent home as quickly as possible.
Guiding Principles:
- Children and youth shall have the right to be raised by their families or origin. Families
have the responsibility to raise and nurture their own children. Reasonable efforts shall
be made to maintain the family unit through the provision of in-home services. - Placement shall be considered when there is evidence that leaving the child in the
home would jeopardize the safety of the child or community. Reasonable efforts shall
be made to reunite the family as soon as possible if removal is necessary. When
reunification is not possible, adoption and other permanency options shall be
aggressively and quickly pursued. - Appropriate and culturally competent services shall be provided to families, children ad
youth in their own homes and in out of home placement. - Children and youth who have been removed from the care of their parents shall have
the right to have extended family members considered as placement resources, to be
placed in a safe environment, not to be moved indiscriminately from one placement to
another, and to have the assurance of a permanent family. - Consideration of the chiId’s age, race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, and special
needs shall guide the choice of out of home and adoptive placements. - Case planning shall involve the family so that relevant services can be provided to
promote rehabilitation and reunification. - Child Welfare Services shall be provided in collaboration with other community
agencies on behalf of children, youth and families. - Financial and programmatic accountability will be stressed using managed care
principals to reinforce that children and their families received all required services. - Respect and build on staff’s strengths so that their expertise can be directed toward
those assignments, which will benefit the Division’s mission in such areas as technical assistance, consultation, and training others.
Informative Links:
Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011
- Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011 Pages 1-39
- Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011 Pages 40-105
- Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011 Page 106
- Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011 Pages 107-119
- Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011 Pages 120-132
- Program Improvement Plan – Proposed 2011 Pages 133-152
Quarterly SFY Administrative Review Division (ARD) 2011 Reports