OurWork
CARE Network
The Child Abuse Response and Evaluation (CARE) Network engages health care and behavioral health providers across Colorado with the best education and training on conducting medical exams and behavioral health assessments to identify signs and risks of child maltreatment or trauma.
Child Protection Team
Attending to children brought into the Children’s Hospital Colorado, the Child Protection Team’s mission is to offer comprehensive, multidisciplinary consultation, assessment, treatment and referral services for children and adolescents who may have been physically or sexually abused or neglected.
Child Welfare Training System
The Kempe Center partners with the Colorado Department of Human Services to develop and implement the Child Welfare Training System (CWTS) – an advanced adult learning system for child welfare workers, other professionals, foster parents and mandatory reporters. To read more and sign-up for email updates, click here.
Fostering Healthy Futures®
The Fostering Healthy Futures® (FHF) program is a positive youth development program that uses mentoring and skills training to empower youth to foster their own healthy futures.
Kids in Care Settings (KICS)
Kempe’s Kids In Care Settings (KICS) Clinic, is a Children’s Hospital Colorado specialty primary care clinic in affiliation with the Kempe Center.
SafeCare®
The Kempe Center partners with the Colorado Department of Human Services to oversee SafeCare® Colorado - an evidence-based prevention program that helps families gain skills to provide a safe home, address child health needs and engage in positive interactions with their children ages 0 to 5- years-old.
Trauma-Sensitive Assessment & Treatment Services for Kids
TASK is an interdisciplinary clinic providing comprehensive mental health and developmental assessment as well as care coordination for children ages 3-12 with complex behaviors who are involved with or at risk of involvement with child welfare.
Together in Truth
The Together in Truth initiative is catalyzing truth telling for impacted persons, professionals, organizations, and collective communities in the pursuit of justice.
Trauma-Responsive Implementation and Practice
The Trauma-Responsive Implementation and Practice (TRIP) program integrates, enhances and implements trauma-responsive and culturally appropriate practices for parents, educators and professionals across the human service fields.
At the Kempe Foundation, we believe children and families are resilient. When parents are provided with the resources they need to care for themselves and their families, children will live safer and healthier lives.
Oftentimes, families are unaware or unable to access the resources that would help them succeed. To solve this problem, the Kempe Foundation works alongside human services agencies, nonprofit organizations and other community partners to strengthen the systems that support children and families.
Policy Expertise
Child abuse and neglect / prevention / training
Child and family mental and behavioral health
Child maltreatment / prevention / training
Child sex assault care / training / prevention
Child welfare / prevention / training
Child and Family Rights
Child Law, Policy, and Ethics
Child-Friendly Cities and Communities
Child Safety Online
Family strengthening / training
Foster care / Foster parent training
Human Services workforce recruitment and retention
Youth and family mental health intervention programs
Youth criminal justice reform
Summer 2023 - Advocacy Efforts
In July, Warren Binford, Steve Berkowitz, Kathi Wells, and Jon Kruljac were in Washington, D.C., to discuss national advocacy issues supporting children and families and to survey the landscape on how Kempe could be a resource for various stakeholders. They met with staff and members of the Colorado delegation including Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, other policymakers, and thought leaders identifying priorities for improvement in child wellbeing.
Highlights
Victim and Survivor Training For Judicial Personnel
Jon Kruljac, The Kempe Foundation’s CEO joined the signing of HB23-1108, Victim and Survivor Training For Judicial Personnel being signed by Lieutenant Governor Primavera. HB23-1108 better equips the judicial system and judicial personnel with the tools needed to understand the complex issues faced by victims of crimes like sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence.
Colorado Fostering Success Voucher Program
Bill SB23-082 Colorado Fostering Success Voucher Program, was signed this summer. Jon Kruljac, CEO of the Kempe Foundation provided testimony in support of SB23-082 in front of the Health & Human Services committee during the legislative session. The act establishes the Colorado fostering success voucher program (program) in the department of human services (DHS). The purpose of the program is to provide housing vouchers and case management services to eligible youth.
Testifying at the CO State Capitol
On August 22, during a meeting at the CO State Capitol, the Kempe Foundation & Kempe Center experts testified on challenges & potential solutions for evidence-based child maltreatment prevention. The Kempe Foundation leadership facilitated this advocacy work.
From left to right in the photo below: Kempe Center Colleagues Sue Kerns, Michelle Davis, Kathy Wells, MD & Kendall Marlowe
Other Bill Signings
On June 5, 2023, Governor Jared Polis signed into law House Bill 23-1269 to improve outcomes for kids with complex mental health needs HB23-1024 Relative And Kin Placement Of A Child. Jon Kruljac, CEO of the Kempe Foundation, was present at this signing.
The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Representatives Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez with Senators Jeff Bridges and Bob Gardner, and unanimously passed by the Colorado State Senate.
