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Chaffee County social services highlights child-welfare caseload changes and new housing grants; state CCAP and TANF funding discussed
Summary
County social services reported a spike in child-welfare referrals that did not result in screened-in investigations, described higher out-of-home placement counts after a data-collection change, and said the state authorized additional CCAP funding and preschool funding; staff also described new youth homelessness and family housing grants.
Chaffee County social services staff reported a surge in referrals to child-welfare intake that did not meet statutory screening thresholds, explained a change in how kinship placements are recorded, and outlined recent state and grant funding that officials said will boost local child-care and housing supports.
At the meeting staff said child-welfare referrals increased in the most recent reporting period but that many of the calls were not screened in as abuse or neglect — a pattern staff said still creates “work to be able to process those referrals.” Staff also said the county’s out-of-home placement count rose after the department began recording kinship placements and paying stipends to kinship providers; the department noted the jump reflects the new payment and reporting approach rather than a sudden increase in placements.
Staff reported the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) received additional state funding; according to staff the state “came back and authorized 10 more $1,000,000 to go towards CCAP,” and staff said the state also increased preschool funding by $3,000,000. The transcript wording was imprecise on the CCAP amount; officials framed both items as meaningful but not sufficient to close the county’s entire funding gap.
Social services staff warned of a state-level proposal to cut “core” funding for child-welfare providers because of an apparent underuse of the allocation, and said the Joint Budget Committee raised concerns about that recommendation. County staff argued the state’s proposed use of TANF reserves as a backstop would not work for Chaffee County because the county does not have TANF reserves and is already overspent in that program.
Staff described several grant awards and program starts intended to help youth and families: the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) received funding that staff said will support programming for youth aging out of foster care; a separate program named in the discussion (referred to in the meeting as “Bezos”) and other housing funds were described as providing roughly $1,000,000 to support families and youth in the community. Staff said those grants focus on longer-term assistance when individuals engage with services, including paying education or certification costs and supporting up to a year of assistance for participants.
The board approved the child-welfare report by voice vote during the session (motion to accept; “All in favor? Aye.”).
