Publications - parenting

What child support agencies share in common with child welfare agencies is children. Not simply children in the abstract, but often the very same children from the very same families — very often, poor families. When child support and child welfare operate entirely independently, the end result can be poorer outcomes for families. Vital information known to one agency may be missing at another. Absent parents who might be a resource for a child may not be located. Parents with children in foster care may receive child support in error and face the prospect of making repayments. Or, child support may never be established even though it would help the family to reunify and be self-sufficient.

The Generational Opportunities to Achieve Long-Term Success (GOALS) program provides comprehensive, residentially-based services to Arapahoe County families experiencing homelessness. Using a 2Gen framework, GOALS was initiated and developed collaboratively by Arapahoe County Human Services and Family Tree and is implemented through a partnership with Family Tree. The mission of GOALS is to effectively help families Read More

The Colorado Rural Collaborative for Homeless Youth was established in 2008 to collectively address the unique needs of rural runaway and homeless youth and the challenges geography poses for them to receive support and services. Namely, this means connecting Colorado’s network of Runaway/Homeless Youth and Child Welfare providers in order to serve youth in rural Read More

A Coach-Like Case Management Program for Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care: Preventing homelessness among young people who have been involved in the child welfare system remains an urgent issue for child welfare policymakers and practitioners. Housing stability is essential for achieving self-sufficiency and promotes health and well-being, particularly during the transition to adulthood. Read More

When child support guidelines were initially drafted, it was assumed that in most instances, the lesser-time parent would be the father, the father would see the children infrequently, and the father would have a higher income than the mother. Today, more custodial parents are male than before, the wage gap between mothers and fathers has Read More

The Children’s Bureau, within the Administration for Children and Families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), is funding a multi-phase grant program to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system. This program is called Youth At-Risk of Read More

Many fathers who participate in fatherhood programs do not live with all of their children. They often seek help from fatherhood programs to navigate the child support system, determine how they can spend more time with their children, or improve their coparenting relationships. Unfortunately, it can be quite complicated for programs to provide this assistance, Read More

The Colorado Pathways to Success Program is a multi-phased program funded by the Children’s Bureau with the aim of developing new initiatives aimed at preventing youth homelessness among current and former foster care youth aged 14-21. This report outlines the key intervention components of the model and reviews the evaluation, lessons learned, and preliminary outcomes Read More

The Generational Opportunities to Achieve Long-Term Success program (GOALS), takes a two-generation (2Gen) approach to improve the overall wellbeing of families experiencing homelessness by enhancing self-sufficiency through residentially-based whole family services (parent, child and family). GOALS serves families primarily from the City of Aurora, Colorado, and Arapahoe County, Colorado, who are eligible for or currently Read More

Coparenting between mothers and nonresident fathers is a consistent predictor of positive father involvement and is shown to have a direct positive impact on children’s behavioral outcomes. While many fatherhood programs attempt to improve coparenting relationships using father-only interventions, the information on their effectiveness is mixed. Couple interventions may be more effective than father-only approaches Read More