This 2018 report presents the evaluation findings from the Colorado Department of Human Services’ five-year Title IV-E Waiver child welfare demonstration project. With its waiver funds, the Colorado Department of Human Services implemented five primary interventions: facilitated family engagement meetings, kinship supports, Permanency Roundtables, trauma-informed screening and assessment, and trauma-focused treatment.

Overall, Colorado’s Title IV-E Waiver benefited child welfare-involved children and youth and their families and kinship caregivers. The waiver interventions were far-reaching, with 53 of 64 counties in the state receiving funds and almost 30,000 children and youth receiving one or more interventions. The percentage of all out-of-home removal days in kinship care increased, while the percentage of foster and congregate care days, as well as the total expenditures for out-of-home care, decreased. At the same time, children and youth who received the interventions, especially those who received the interventions with high adherence to the specified intervention models, generally had better permanency and safety outcomes than matched children and youth who did not receive the interventions.