Core Services
The Core Services Program was established in 1994 to provide strength-based resources and support to families when children and youth are at imminent risk of out-of-home placement, in need of services to return home or to maintain a placement in the least restrictive setting possible. Responding to the complexity and variability in the needs of children, youth and families across the diverse regions of Colorado, the Core Services Program combines the consistency of centralized state administrative oversight with the flexibility and accountability of a county-run system. This approach allows for individualized services to meet the needs of children, youth and families across diverse Colorado communities.
Core Services Program Goals
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Focus on family strengths by directing intensive services that support and strengthen the family and/or protect the child/youth
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Prevent out-of-home placement of the child/youth
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Return children/youth in placement to their own home or unite children/youth with their permanent families
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Provide services that protect the child/youth
"To return children/youth in placement to their own home or to unite children/youth with their permanent families" is defined as return to the home of a parent, an adoptive placement, guardianship, independent living placement, foster-adoption placement or to live with a relative/kin if the goal for the child in the Family Services Plan is to remain in the placement on a permanent basis.