About the Colorado partnership for thriving families
The Colorado Partnership for Thriving Families (the Partnership) works collaboratively across the State of Colorado to create the conditions for strong families and communities where children are healthy, valued and thriving.
The aim is to significantly reduce child fatalities and child maltreatment for all children zero to five by positively and proactively supporting strong and healthy family formation.
With a united focus on strengthening families during pregnancy and through the first year of a child’s life, prenatal to one, in 2020, the Partnership intends to ultimately expand into ages one to five based on resources and capacity.
The aim is to significantly reduce child fatalities and child maltreatment for all children zero to five by positively and proactively supporting strong and healthy family formation.
With a united focus on strengthening families during pregnancy and through the first year of a child’s life, prenatal to one, in 2020, the Partnership intends to ultimately expand into ages one to five based on resources and capacity.
Just as building a strong house requires certain materials, building family well-being requires many different things.
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Quality education, clear career pathways, and economic assets are essential, as are physical and mental health.
Social capital - helpful connections to people, information, and opportunities to both give and receive support - may be intangible, but it is still critical for well-being. The results of working together across multiple systems are healthy parents with family-supporting jobs, healthy children meeting developmental milestones, and better-connected individuals able to participate in civic and family life. In Colorado, pregnancy through the first 5 years of life represents a time in families' lives of pronounced need and opportunity, as illustrated below: |
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- Colorado has one of the highest rates of low birth weight births in the country at about 9%; but as high as 26% in some counties;
- 27.3% of women felt down, depressed, or hopeless since their baby was born sometimes, often, or frequently;
- An estimated 54,000 parents in Colorado reported that they felt aggravation from parenting usually or always in the past month. On the 2017-2018 National Survey of Children’s Health, over 10,000 Colorado parents admitted that they didn’t think they were handling the day-to-day demands of raising children well, and 1 in 5 parents stated they did not have anyone to turn to for day to day emotional support with raising children;
- Colorado has seen a 12% increase in the number of children that were victims of first-time child maltreatment in the past five years; and
- Of Colorado child maltreatment fatalities in State Fiscal Year 2017-2018, 52.9% of children were under the age of one and 82.4% were under the age of five.
These findings are an indication of the difficult experiences of some Colorado families. Communities can rally around parents and caregivers to offer supports that will help them thrive long before things spiral out of control. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “child abuse and neglect is the result of the interaction of a number of individual, family, and environmental factors. Consequently, there is strong reason to believe that the prevention of child abuse and neglect requires a comprehensive focus that crosscuts key sectors of society (e.g., public health, government, education, social services, and justice).
In addition, there is an important need to increase the capacity of state and local governments to implement and scale up effective interventions that can reduce child abuse and neglect."
In addition, there is an important need to increase the capacity of state and local governments to implement and scale up effective interventions that can reduce child abuse and neglect."
THEORY of changeIf we intentionally work together at the state and county level to align funding, priorities, regulations, outcome measures, and implementation – across sectors and across jurisdictions – we can create a strong family well-being system that supports families.
By doing this, family and community factors that build protective capacity against maltreatment will be enhanced and risk factors reduced—including outcomes related to child well-being and achievement, caregiver well-being and achievement, consistent high-quality care-giving, and safe and supportive neighborhoods. By aligning our work and learning from and with one another, we can significantly reduce child fatalities and child maltreatment for all children zero to five by positively and proactively supporting strong and healthy family formation. Leadership Team
The work of the Colorado Partnership for Thriving Families is guided by a steering committee which includes the following members:
BACKBONE SUPPORT FOR THE PARTNERSHIP
Community Norms Work Group
The Community Norms Work Group is focused on promoting community norms around culturally-centered social connectedness and proactive help-seeking and help-offering behaviors for prenatal to one families. The group is working to expand the resources available in and support organizations with the use of Colorado COnnected as a tool for increasing social connections in their communities. The group currently meets on the first Thursday of the month from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm. Early Touchpoints Work Group
Early Touchpoints Work Group is focused on strengthening the family well-being service array available to prenatal to one families. The group is beginning by working to support counties with assessing their existing system of support for expecting and expanding families and creating a plan to move toward a universally-available, voluntary and culturally responsive system that addresses racial, ethnic or language barriers that may prevent access. The group currently meets on the first Tuesday of the month from 8:30 am -10:00 am. Systems Alignment Priority Area
The systems alignment priority area is focused on aligning state and county human services and public health systems in order to place family well-being at the center. The approach to operationalizing this priority area is still being finalized by the Partnership. If you would like to stay informed on the operationalization of this priority area, subscribe to updates on this systems alignment priority area. |
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