The Division of Child Welfare provides regulatory oversight, processes licensing applications, enforces rules, and provides technical assistance to ensure the safety and well-being of children in out of home placement in 24-hour licensed child care facilities.
Types of 24-hour facilities
Specialized Group Facility (SGF) is sponsored and supervised by a county department of social/human services henceforth to be known as the county) or a licensed child placement agency (henceforth to be known as the agency) for the purpose of providing 24-hour care for three or more children, but fewer than 12 children from age 3 to 16 years old and for children from 16 to 18 years old and those persons 21 years old who are placed by court order prior to their eighteenth birthday whose special needs may best be met through the medium of the small group. A specialized group facility may serve children enrolled in Children\'s Rehabilitation Residential Program (CHRP).
There are two types of specialized group facilities:
- A specialized group home is located in a house owned or otherwise controlled by the group home parents who are primarily responsible for the care of the children and reside therein.
- A specialized group center is located in a house owned or controlled by a governing body that hires the group center parents or personnel who are primarily responsible for the care of the children."
Day Treatment Center (DT) - means a facility that provides less than 24-hour care for groups of five or more children from age 5 to 18 and for those persons to 21years old who are placed in the program by court order prior to their eighteenth birthday. The center must provide a structured program of various types of psycho-social and/or behavioral treatments to prevent or reduce the need for placement of the child out of the home or community. This definition does not include special education programs operated by a public or private school system or programs that are licensed by other regulations of the Department of Human Services for less than 24-hour care of children, such as a child care center or part-day preschool.
Child Placement Agency (CPA) - means any corporation, partnership, association, firm, agency, institution or person unrelated to the child being placed, who places, who facilitates placement for a fee, or arranges for placement any child under the age of eighteen (18) years with any family, person or institution for purposes of foster care, treatment and/or adoption.
Residential Child Care Facility (RCCF) provides 24-hour residential group care and treatment for five (5) or more children between the ages of three (3) and eighteen (18) years old and for those persons to twenty-one (21) years old who are placed by court order prior to their eighteenth birthday. A residential child care facility must offer opportunities for a variety of experiences through a group living program and specialized services that can be used selectively in accordance with an individual plan for each child. A residential child care facility includes:
- Community-Based Residential Child Care Facilities
- Shelter Care Facilities
- Therapeutic Residential Child Care Facilities
- Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities
Transition Program may be a component of an RCCF program in which the child is residing in the RCCF part of the time and in a living situation that child is expected to move to after treatment in the RCCF is completed. The purpose of transition is to enable the child to transition to the home or a less restrictive setting in a manner that prepares the child for success in the new setting.
Secure Residential Treatment Center (SRTC) means a facility operated under private ownership that provides twenty-four (24) hour group care and treatment in a secure setting for five (5) or more children or persons up to the age of twenty-one (21) who are committed by a court pursuant to an adjudication of delinquency or pursuant to a determination of guilt of a delinquent act or having been convicted as an adult and sentenced for an at that would be a crime if committed in Colorado, or in the committing jurisdiction, to be placed in a secure facility.
Homeless Youth Shelter provides services and temporary shelter for a period of three days or more to homeless youth who is at least 15 years of age but is less than 18 years of age and meets the statutory definition of a homeless youth pursuant to C.R.S. 26-5.7-102 (2).
Visit the CDHS service providers and partners page for resources for licensed providers.