Division Name:
Family and Children's Services

Description: Family and Children Services provide community-based, family-centered services with two locations in the community: Boulder and Longmont

Core Functions:

Child Protection/ Intake Services:
Units providing intake services are the first point of contact for clients with BCDHHS. Intake Units receive, screen, and assess referrals, and when a case is opened, provide services for up to 60 days. Child Protection Intake Units are responsible for screening, and assessing reports of child abuse and neglect. Child protection intake caseworkers conduct assessments of all accepted referrals, determining the safety needs of the child and initiate and provide services to maintain children and youth safely in their home or provide access to appropriate out-of- home care when necessary.

Ongoing Services:
Ongoing services units provide voluntary and court ordered services beyond the initial 60 days a case is open and for a longer term. Ongoing Units provide a comprehensive array of in-home and out of home services to children, youth, and their families. Cases are received from the Intake Units and services may be provided either voluntarily or pursuant to orders entered by judges and/or magistrates.

Family Integrated Treatment Court Team (FITC):
This team provides integrated, multi-disciplinary ongoing child protection services to children and families affected by substance abuse. Participation in the program is voluntary for families who meet the eligibility criteria and are already involved in a Dependency or Neglect action. The Family Integrated Treatment Court Family Dependency Treatment Track is a collaborative effort of justice, treatment and social services in Boulder County to stabilize families impacted by drugs and alcohol and to ensure the protection of children, reduce substance abuse, and preserve families. The FITC partnership coordinates substance abuse and therapeutic interventions and provides consistent court interaction with a focus on accountability and community support to break the cycle of addiction, child maltreatment and crime in future generations.

Juvenile Integrated Treatment Court (JITC) Team:
JITC caseworkers integrate substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, intensive family services, intensive supervision, and substantial judicial oversight for juveniles and their families who are involved in the juvenile delinquency system in order to improve individual and family function and promote public safety.

Project Reach:
Project Reach is an integrated team providing evaluation, assessment, treatment and supervised monitoring to sexually abusive youth over the age of 10. The team is a collaboration between BCDHHS, the Mental Health Center, Probation, Community Justice Services and the District Attorney’s office.

Sexual Abuse Team: The Sexual Abuse Team conducts assessments on reports of intra-familial child sexual abuse. Team members, who are qualified as forensic sexual abuse interviewers, provide assessment of family risk factors and therapeutic needs, with focus on provision of services to maintain children safely in their home or access to appropriate out-of- home care when necessary. Team members are also available to consult with BCDHHS caseworkers on other assessments and/or treatment as needed. Ongoing services provided by the unit include a comprehensive array of in-home and out of home services to children and families. Services are received either voluntarily or by court order

Intensive Family Therapy (IFT) and Therapeutic Visitation:
The Intensive Family Therapy Team provides family therapy in order to, whenever safe, prevent placement of children ages 0-18 years of age, or to enable children who are in placement to return home. If a child is already placed and no functional family exists, the purpose is to provide therapy to adults caring for the child in order to enable the child to stay in the least restrictive placement. Families participating in IFT also have an ongoing caseworker in one of the BCDHHS offices. IFT also provides therapeutic visitation supervision to facilitate children remaining in the home with their caregivers or being returned home as soon as safely possible.

Family Treatment Continuum (FTC) Team:
The Family Treatment Continuum consists of several programs designed to assist families receiving services from an ongoing child protection unit or an adolescent and family services unit. FTC caseworkers and therapists provide supplemental services and are not the primary caseworker for a family. The mission of FTC is to, when safe and possible, provide a continuum of therapeutic services to at risk families. FTC offers a Lifeskills program as well as a Nurturing Parent Program

IMPACT (Integrated Managed Partnership for Adolescent and Child Community Treatment):

IMPACT is a collaboration among the public agencies in Boulder County that serve the children and families at highest risk. IMPACT seeks to deliver a seamless system of services provided by the Mental Health Center, Department of Public Health, the Boulder Valley School District, the St. Vrain Valley School District, the District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, the Probation Department, Boulder County Community Justice Services, the Department of Youth Corrections, and BCDHHS. IMPACT provides responsible management of the collective resources, sharing risk, responsibility and goal setting with families, youth, providers and the courts. It seeks to provide child and community safety while promoting community connectedness and providing opportunities for growth, supporting stable and permanent environments, and fostering family and individual preservation.

IMPACT seeks to promote long-term planning toward developing safe and self-sufficient adults while utilizing the least restrictive, most appropriate setting and redirecting blended resources from institutional settings to community and family based settings. IMPACT seeks to meet child and family specific needs through flexible, individualized services while maximizing collaboration between providers, families, youth and the community. It also seeks to promote culturally sensitive and competent service delivery.

Contact Information: