How the Colorado Implementation Science Unit is helping communities develop new strategies to keep families together

Since the fall of 2022, the Colorado Implementation Science Unit has been partnering with communities across Colorado to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of child welfare/maltreatment prevention services. These services aim to keep children safely with their families and out of foster care. 

This work aligns with Colorado’s implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First). “The federal funding Colorado receives through Family First is being put towards the expansion and sustainability of services that improve family well-being across the state,” said Tiffany Madrid, the Director of Strategic Research and head of the Colorado Implementation Science Unit at the Colorado Department of Human Services. “This will help more families gain timely access to supportive services when needs arise. And to ensure services are culturally responsive and relevant, the Colorado Implementation Science Unit is helping communities design, implement, and test new service ideas.”

“To learn more about how Colorado is working to expand the availability of child welfare prevention services across the state, please see: “Expanding Colorado’s Family First Service Array: An Implementation Framework.”

To date, the Colorado Implementation Science Unit has partnered with over a dozen organizations – ranging from teams within the Colorado Department of Human Services to teams at nonprofits in rural Colorado – to support eight prevention services, including:

• Fostering Opportunities (administered by the Colorado Department of Human Services)
• Colorado Fostering Success Housing Voucher Program (administered by the Colorado Department of Human Services)
• Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator Program (administered by the Colorado Department of Human Services)
• Multisystemic Therapy (administered by the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect)
• Fostering Healthy Futures Preteens (administered by the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect)
• Colorado’s Collaborative Management Program (administered by the Colorado Department of Human Services)
• Family Empowerment Team (administered by Mesa County Department of Human Services)
• In-Home Family Preservation Service (administered by Pueblo County Department of Human Services and Catholic Charities of Southern Colorado)