Colorado’s first intergenerational supportive housing complex is a $10 million bet that a community that feels like family will help ease foster kids’ transition to adulthood.
CASA
Posted inNews, Social Services
Former foster kids started a new Colorado nonprofit to help young people. TikTok is taking it nationwide.
One young woman who aged out of foster care was about to have her phone service cut off for not paying the bill. A teenage boy living in a homeless shelter while waiting for a foster placement reached out because he was lonely and hungry. And a mother who was fighting to get her children […]
Posted inColoradans, Housing, News
New programs aim to house Colorado foster youth who end up homeless
Olivia Potter spent her high school years in foster care, then set off on her own at 18. She drifted from a short stint at her dad’s house in Montrose, where his one last chance to show her he was “a good human being” fell short, to a boyfriend’s college dorm room in Grand Junction. […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We have a chance to improve the lives of foster children at their darkest hour
The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis for vulnerable children in foster care. Before the pandemic struck, these children and their families suffered from stress, trauma and lack of access to supportive services. The isolation and social distancing have only made it worse, but we can use this as an opportunity to bring a renewed focus […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, News
An army of volunteers is using Facetime, Zoom to protect Colorado foster kids during coronavirus
The call usually comes around 7 each night, while Sarah Sparks is watching a movie with her two daughters on the couch. She keeps her phone close so she doesn’t miss it. On the other end of the line is a 7-year-old girl, a foster child who lives in a Denver residential treatment center, a […]
Posted inColoradans, News
Colorado has a big shortage of volunteers to speak up for foster kids in court
One person in a foster kid’s life isn’t paid to show up. Attorneys are paid. Teachers are paid. Even foster parents are paid. The person volunteering their time to make sure a child’s voice is heard is a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, and only about one-third of children who were abused or neglected […]