Child Welfare

• All clients are treated and serviced with respect and dignity,
• Children have a right to a safe and nurturing home environment,
• Parents are the best caretakers of their children,
• The role of this Department and this Division is to support and assist parents and caretakers in providing appropriate and adequate care for their children,
• Children are removed from the care of their parent/guardian only when the child(ren) are at imminent risk of abuse or serious neglect and all reasonable efforts to prevent removal from the home have been exhausted,
• Children will be placed with family, if appropriate, or in the most appropriate and least restrictive environment if removal from the home is necessary.

Douglas County Human Services assesses children and families where there have been allegations of physical child abuse, sexual child abuse, and child neglect and we work with families where abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse issues have been identified. Our focus is to identify and address the safety issues that brought the family to our attention.

Our goal is to work cooperatively with families and to provide services to keep families together. Working in collaboration with community agencies, as well as the local police department and Douglas County Juvenile Court, allegations of child maltreatment are addressed through services designed specifically to identify and protect victims from further abuse.

We work on maintaining children safely in their own home when that is possible. When that is not possible, Douglas County Human Services provides temporary placement of a child out of the child’s home. We are committed to working with families on identifying relative (kin) resources for the children and keeping the children in their own community. We work toward reunifying children safely with their parents and creating a permanent plan for the welfare of every child.

Families involved with our services will receive direct service from a caseworker, combined with services from the community and/or other service providers. Other services may include substance abuse and mental health treatment for parents and children, home-based services, and sexual abuse treatment.

The Youth in Conflict team works with youth age 12-18 and their families.  Families receiving casework services may involve youth who are beyond parental control, youth who have delinquency cases in Juvenile Court, youth who have a family history of abuse or neglect, youth who need permanency and youth with developmental disabilities.  The primary focus is on maintaining youth safely in their homes.  Caseworkers engage with families to help identify resources in the community to provide needed treatment and support.  The Department of Human Services may refer families to additional treatment resources, such as in-home therapy.  Should youth exhibit high-risk behavior requiring placement out of the home, the caseworker works with families to identify appropriate relative (kin) resources for the youth and keeping the youth in their own community.  We work toward reunifying youth safely with their parents and creating a permanent plan for the welfare of every youth.

My child or teens behavior has become very challenging, what resources are available? 

I am concerned that my child/teen is suicidal, who do I call for help?  

If your child or teen’s behavior has become very challenging, there are a number of resources available to you in your community. Below are links to a few that families are able to access independently.

• AllHealth Network
• Douglas County Youth Initiative
• Douglas County Youth and Family Resources Guide
• The Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC)

If you are concerned your child/teen is suicidal, call Colorado Crisis Support at 1-844-493-TALK (8255). This line connects children and adults to mental health crisis services across the Front Range.

Douglas County is an advocate for the Strengthening Families approach to preventing child abuse and neglect.

Strengthening Families is a research-informed approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. It is based on engaging families, programs, and communities in building five key Protective Factors.

Parental resilience
Social connections
Knowledge of parenting and child development
Concrete support in times of need
Social and emotional competence of children

Using the Strengthening Families framework, more than 30 states, including Colorado, are shifting policy and practice to help programs working with children and families focus on protective factors.

Douglas County also partners locally with Manna Connect, Shiloh House, the Tri-County Health Department Nurse-Family Partnership and the Tennyson Center for Children to implement these practices.

Specifically, regarding the Tennyson Center for Children initiative, Douglas County is one of seven Colorado Counties who in 2019 became involved in the statewide collaborative called Rewiring, which seeks to ensure that families remain safely together and eventually reduce the number of children and families involved with the child welfare system. Rewiring provides earlier support for children and families, prevents and diverts families from entering child welfare, and allows us to follow the children we work with into adulthood.

Keep your children safe around windows.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reminds everyone that it only takes 5 minutes to prevent a child from falling out of a window.  Windows rank as one of the top five hidden hazards in the home.  Falls from windows are more common than people might think. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, about eight children under age 5 die each year from falling out a window, and more than 3,300 are injured seriously enough to go to the hospital.  “Screens keep bugs out, but won’t keep kids in!”

The Facts:

• Children ages two to five are at the highest risk for falling out of a window.
• Window falls are a common cause of injury or death to children.
• Window injuries are PREVENTABLE!
• Most falls occur in the spring and summer.
• Almost 5,000 children are injured in window falls each year.

Staying Safe:

• Supervise children around windows at all times.
• Install child safety mechanisms on ALL windows that are more than six feet from the ground.
• Use window guards on windows that you want to open four inches or more.
• Do not allow children to play within two feet of windows.
• Keep furniture and other things that can be used for climbing away from windows.

For more information on window safety visit the National Safety Council.

Printable Brochures:

• Window Safety for Children (a)
• Window Safety for Children (b)

For Child Welfare Complaints:

• Contact your child welfare caseworker, their supervisor and/or manager to address your concern at 303-688-4825.

If you are still dissatisfied, you may initiate a complaint by choosing one of the options listed below:

Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) Child Welfare Division

• Contact the Child Welfare complaint coordinator at 303-866-4511
• Complete the CDHS online form

Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman

• Contact the Child Protection Ombudsman at 720-625-8640

Review the Douglas County Department of Human Services policy regarding the Child Welfare and Adult Protection Quality Assurance and Investigatory Process here.