An Evaluation of the Colorado Community Response Program

Project Abstract

The Colorado Community Response (CCR) program is an innovative, voluntary program to prevent child maltreatment. CCR is designed to reduce incidences of neglect and abuse by increasing the financial stability and self-sufficiency of caregivers. The hallmarks of CCR are family-driven goal-setting and comprehensive, short-term (about four months) case management to help families access formal and informal services to meet their needs.

CCR is administered by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) and implemented by sites—typically non-profits but sometimes county human service departments– across the state. Currently, families are referred to CCR after being reported to the state’s child abuse hotline and “screened out” by county child welfare staff because there are not specific allegations of child abuse or neglect and/or the child is not at imminent risk of harm. The Colorado Lab is partnering with CDEC on a randomized control trial (results expected in mid-2023) to understand the efficacy of the program. A cost study was completed in 2021 and is linked below.

Using LINC, CDEC is also exploring indicators of economic insecurity that are visible through administrative data and may predict future child abuse and neglect before a caregiver is referred to the hotline. Leveraging such predictions to outreach even earlier with voluntary prevention programs like CCR could be a game changer for Colorado’s child maltreatment prevention efforts. The first report in this series, linked below, examines the relationship between a substantial loss in caregiver earnings and referrals to the child abuse hotline.