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)
A new clinic that serves as a medical home for youth in out-of-home placements with fully integrated mental and behavioral health services at every clinic visit. Research shows that behavioral health within primary care in a medical home is the most effective way to address mental health concerns.
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
This new initiative, beginning in 2023, will engage with individuals and families with lived experience in the child welfare system and professionals in the field, to share their stories to create change. The Cycle of Together in Truth: Truth, Knowledge, Influence, Change, 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 areas of expertise and interest
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
Family strengthening / training
Foster care / Foster parent training
Human Services workforce recruitment and retention
Policy areas of expertise and interest:
Youth and family mental health intervention programs
Youth criminal justice reform
Summer 2022 - Advocacy Efforts
On June 7th, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed bills into law to help Coloradans keep more of their hard-earned money, ensure all Coloradans can live and thrive in safe and healthy communities, and support cutting-edge technology to drive innovation in Colorado’s thriving agriculture industry.
Highlights
Supporting Legislation for Children’s Mental Health
In 2021, the Kempe Foundation actively supported the passage of several bills to expand mental and behavioral health services for children and youth in Colorado, including House Bill 1097 to establish the Behavioral Health Administration and Senate Bill 154 to implement the 988 national suicide prevention lifeline network in Colorado.
Establishing the CARE Network
The Kempe Foundation advocated for House Bill 1133 which became law in 2019. This created Colorado’s Child Abuse Response and Evaluation (CARE) Network, building local capacity to identify child trauma and provide quality medical and behavioral assessments for suspected victims of child abuse and neglect.
Securing Funding for Statewide Training & Prevention Programs
The Kempe Foundation led efforts to secure $6,797,102 in funding for the Child Welfare Training System in the FY 2020-21 State of Colorado budget, and $5,447,875 for the ongoing implementation of SafeCare in the FY 2016-17 State of Colorado budget.
