The Board submits Mesa County Core Services Plan for approval

During the Aug. 20 public hearing, the Board of County Commissioners signed the $2.13 million Mesa County Core Services Plan and submitted it to the Colorado Department of Human Services Office for approval.

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, need services to return home, or 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.

In Mesa County, Family Preservation Services (FPP) are standardized and available on a statewide basis for families who have children and youth at imminent risk of being placed into the foster care system. Mesa County Department of Human Services provides the six Basic FPP Services and has contracted with St. Mary's Hospital and Colorado West Mental Health to provide other specialized services required by the state. All FPP services have two primary goals, including preventing children from being placed in residential care settings or providing for the reunification of the child with their family in the event placement out of the home is necessary.

The six Basic Family Preservation Services provided directly by the Mesa County Department of Human Services at one of their sites in the community are:

1. Intensive Family Therapy: This is a therapeutic intervention utilizing a qualified therapist, meeting with a family for an average of two hours per week. Treatment is focused on improving family communications and relationships. The family's capacity to resolve conflict within the family system while addressing issues contributing to child maltreatment and the risk of out-of-home placement is dealt with directly.

2. Home-Based Services: This service is designed to work with a family's strengths. The program works with families in crisis to produce positive changes necessary to protect children and preserve the family structure. The services may include learning new parenting skills, problem-solving, support groups, conflict management, and teaching families to use other community resources.

3. Sexual Abuse Therapy: This service is provided to children who have been victims of sexual abuse or are identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse to prevent further victimization. The services may be provided through various modalities, including family, group, or individual therapy.

4. Adolescent Day Treatment: A comprehensive, highly structured setting where therapy and educational services are provided to middle school-age youth for five hours per day. There must be a documented inability of the child to attend public school, and the level of risk to the child must be manageable. The educational services are provided by Mesa County School District 51; the Department provides therapeutic services.

5. Life Skills: These services focus on teaching daily living skills and are designed to assist the clients in achieving their treatment plan goals. Services may include improving household management, improving parenting competency, accessing community services, and basic problem-solving.

6. Family Visitation and Support: This is a program designed for Mesa County to serve families where children have been removed from parental care and placed out of the home due to physical/sexual abuse or severe neglect. In instances of considerable risk to the child, visits between the parents and child are supervised. The staff ensures the child's safety while working with parents to improve the interactions and parents' ability to meet the child's basic care and safety needs. The goal is to increase visitation and eventually reunite the family.

For more information on the Core Services Program, visit the Colorado Department of Human Services website.