Jeffco’s Preventive Legal Services Pilot Program Launches

The Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel (ORPC) is accepting referrals for indigent parents in Jefferson County whose unmet legal needs may be affecting the safety of their children. The pilot program launches this month and aims to connect parents to preventive legal services and keep families together by addressing legal problems such as housing and eviction, custody and visitation, guardianship, parentage/paternity, and orders of protection. The goal is to safely reduce child welfare involvement and removals of children.

The Colorado Lab is working with ORPC to evaluate the pilot program in order to better understand its implementation and preliminary outcomes. Results and lessons learned will be used to inform program improvement in Jefferson County and potentially scale the program across the state.

To learn more about the Preventive Legal Service Program, contact ORPC at intake@coloradoorpc.org. To refer a parent, access the application here. You can learn more about the Colorado Lab’s evaluation of the Jefferson County pilot program by reaching out to Dr. Lauren Gase.