Program areas at LFSCO
Foster care Services: in fy 2022, lfs served 176 children and youth in licensed foster homes located across the front range and eastern plains of Colorado. Lfs accepts referrals from any of the 64 counties in Colorado who retain custody of the children, as well as placement of unaccompanied refugee minors (urm) who are referred through the us state department, office of refugee resettlement. Lfs cared for 71 urm children and youth separated from their families due to war or civil unrest during the year. Lfs foster care Services provide high quality case management for all children in care, as well as enhanced support for foster families who care for these vulnerable chlldren and youth. Lfs focuses on providing the Services and supports needed to keep children and families stable, reducing the number of disruptions children and youth experience during their time in foster care. In addition, lfs facilitated 10 adoptions from foster care during the year.
Disaster response: the program serves to address large natural and man-made disasters which occur in Colorado or new mexico. This past fiscal year, disaster response included support for victims of wildfires in boulder county along with a crisis counseling program for those affected by covid and needing assistance to get back to their life. The crisis counseling program served clients in the denver metro area and also on the western slope of Colorado.
Refugee resettlement Services: lfsrm is one of the largest resettlement programs in the Rocky mountain region. In cooperation with Lutheran immigration and refugee Services, we welcomed approximately 1621 refugee and afghan arrivals to Colorado and new mexico from war torn countries around the world. In addition, we serve secondary migrants, asylees and victims of trafficking who have chosen to make Colorado or new mexico their home. Lfsrm currently provides refugee Services in denver, Colorado springs, greeley, albuquerque, and las cruces and also serves as needed in the state of Montana.
Lifework aging solutions: lfs works in partnership with area hospitals to provide guardianship servcies for vulnerable seniors who lack the capacity to provide informed consent to medical treatment, and who have no advance directives or "surrogate" decision makers. They also assist with families to guide and support them to become the legal guardian of Family members no longer capable of providing informed consent for their medical treatments.
Adoption and birth parent counseling: lfs provides a full range of pregnancy counseling and adoption Services. Clients who are experiencing unexpected pregnancies receive support and counseling regarding their options, as well as follow-up support and relinquishment counseling. Lfs Services include matching the child with an adoptive Family and completion of the legal process. Lfs supports open adoptions, providing assistance to families throughout the entire adoption process, including finalization of their adoptive child. Designated adoption assistance is provided for families who are already matched with a birth mother in order to complete their adoptions. Lfs also provides all home study approvals for international and interstate adoptions in the state of Colorado through a contract with the Colorado department of human Services for interstate compact for the placement of children (icpc).
Prevention and parent support Services: lfs provides a range of programs to strentghen and support families, improve Family relationships, and educate children and families on safety and parenting topics. Programs include parenting education, in-home support, body safety classes, supervised visitation, and respite care. Along the northern front range lfs provides parenting education to families through community classes, body safety education to school children through the safe touch program, and supervised visitation and safe-exchange Services for parents involved in high risk divorces and those who have open child protection cases. On the southern front range lfs offers safe care, an evidence-based early childhood education intervention offered to parents in their homes for families with children ages twelve and younger to create safe, nurturing and stable environments for raising children and improving Family relationships. Respite Services are provided in el paso county to assist any parent or guardian who needs a break from parenting, and crisis care when a child cannot or should not be with their parent or guardian.
Development/admin