Celebrating Our Success: The Children and Family Services Review (CFSR)

Recently, Colorado completed a major milestone during a federal review. Referred to as the Round 4 Children and Family Services Review (CFSR), this review demonstrates how effectively our state handles child welfare supports and processes. This review last happened in 2017. The CFSR is a two-phased review, beginning with a Statewide Assessment and culminating with an Onsite Review. The Statewide Assessment is a comprehensive self-assessment conducted by the state child welfare agency in collaboration with key stakeholders, community partners, Tribes and individuals with lived experience in the system. Following the Statewide Assessment, the state enters Phase 2, the Onsite Review, which delves into direct practice and case-level evidence through joint federal-state review teams. 

“The CFSR is a critical continuous quality improvement process that allows the Children’s Bureau to evaluate states across the country on child welfare outcomes. This is important because it not only tells us how we are doing as a single state but ensures improved outcomes for children and families nationwide and for children and families who may experience the child welfare system in multiple states,” said Katie Scherr, federal reporting administrator within the Colorado Department of Human Services Division of Child Welfare. She also worked as the project manager for the CFSR for nearly two years. 

Colorado’s Onsite Review was conducted from July 20, 2026 through July 24, 2026. Beyond a check in, this was a  statewide effort requiring two years of planning and support from the entire Division of Child Welfare (DCW) team. Colorado’s Onsite Review included case reviews at three sites: Weld, Mesa, and Denver Counties. Additionally, stakeholder interviews were conducted at the Colorado Department of Human Services building. Over the course of the Onsite Review week, nearly 90 federal reviewers from the Children’s Bureau examined 65 cases and conducted case and stakeholder interviews with nearly 1,000 people, which included parents, youth, attorneys, caseworkers, and service providers, who helped bring important perspectives  to the child welfare process in Colorado.

“The CFSR has exhibited the strong partnerships that we have in child welfare in Colorado. State, county and community partners have come together in the past two years to collectively plan and execute this review. We couldn’t have done this without partnership from our stakeholders, and we look forward to continued partnership as we enter the CFSR program improvement plan,” said Katie. 

The success of this review was thanks to months of dedicated preparation. Teams at every site were equipped with everything they needed, including backup reviewers to data support, —which helped the DCW and county teams finish their reviews ahead of schedule.

«I  hope people realize that it is a huge process to take on, and it’s also really cool to show off the amazing work that we do in Colorado. I can’t be more proud of the entire team and how we all came together to get this done,” said co-deputy director of the Child Welfare Division at the Colorado Department of Human Resources, Korey Elger.

While DCW leadership will receive a final report in 60 to 90 days, the early feedback from federal reviewers was incredibly positive. After weeks of coordination with federal partners to ensure family and community voices were represented at the three county sites, 65 cases were identified from a random sample. Counties were responsible for finding key case participants for the case interviews, and no cases were dropped from the sample. Each of the 65 cases went through (virtual and in-person) interviews with key participants in the case. The case reviews used the On-site Review Instrument, which evaluates 18 items related to safety, permanency, and well-being. The state achieved higher scores than in 2017 in nearly all areas, including some 100% ratings. The federal reviewers were impressed by the quality of Colorado’s casework and the interactions they saw across all three sites.

In addition to case reviews at the three sites, the DCW team conducted 20 hybrid (virtual and in-person) stakeholder interviews at the Colorado Department of Human Services throughout the week.. Separate from the case reviews at the county sites, these interviews evaluated Colorado’s performance on the CFSR Systemic Factors, including Colorado’s Service Array and child welfare quality assurance processes. Stakeholder interview groups included foster, adoptive and kinship families, attorneys, service providers, county staff, tribal serving organizations, youth, parents and other stakeholder groups from across the state. 

“A massive thank you to everyone who participated, from the frontline staff who prepped the cases to the community partners and families who shared their experiences. Your dedication made all the difference,” said Korey.