Colorado
Colorado sees jump in ‘kinship’ foster families after state increases support, simplifies process
Nearly 40% more relatives and other “kin” are receiving state support to help raise children in Colorado’s foster care system than were at this time last year, after legislators streamlined the process for families that want to take in a child.
Last year, a change in state law made it easier for “kinship” caregivers to get certified as foster care providers for a child they know. Once a kinship family gets certified, they receive the same daily rate as foster families that take in children they don’t know, which ranges from $43 to $66 per day, depending on the child’s age.
The law change also allowed kinship families who hadn’t completed the certification process to get paid 30% of the rate the state normally contributes to foster families. In July, those families will become eligible for half the normal rate.
Now, family members who want to get certified can complete a shorter training course and a less-complex version of the vetting process than families who are fostering children they don’t know have to go through. Uncertified families also have to complete some paperwork, such as background checks on the adults in the house.
DeAndrea Beres, of Delta, underwent the more-intensive certification process when she took in her nephew in December 2022, and now guides families through the simplified version as a caseworker. She adopted the boy, now 3, in June.
The training was “a lot,” particularly at a time when she was rearranging her life to prepare to care for a child, Beres said. At the time, she was traveling frequently between Delta and Denver for work and had no plans for motherhood.
“It definitely changed my life, for the better in a lot of ways,” she said of fostering and then adopting her nephew.
Streamlining the process made it easier for more families to step up, Beres said. Easing certification has particularly helped grandparents and others on fixed incomes who can’t raise a child without the financial support that foster families receive, she said.
“For a lot of my families, this has made a big difference,” she said of the change to state law. “You can do it if you want to open up your heart and your home.”
‘The more grace we’re able to give’
As of Sept. 3, the state had certified 813 kinship families, up from 588 in early September 2024, said Toilynn Edwards, placement resources administrator with the Colorado Department of Human Services.
The number of children in out-of-home placements — including both traditional foster care and kinship homes — has remained stable, so it appears that more kinship families have been able to make it through the certification process, she said.
About 41% of 2,385 children in certified placements as of early October are in kinship homes. The group only includes families caring for kids who are in the child welfare system; an unknown number of people are caring for children of their relatives or friends without any state involvement.
Kids who live with a kinship caregiver tend to have fewer placements because going to stay with a relative is less traumatic than moving into a stranger’s house, Edwards said. In addition, kinship providers are less likely to give up on kids with challenging behaviors related to trauma, since they know the child’s story and already have a relationship, she said.
“The longer that we’ve known somebody, the more grace we’re able to give people,” she said.
Previously, kinship families had to complete 27 hours of training to get certified, as traditional foster families do, Edwards said. Now, they only have to complete six hours of initial training, with continuing education and support throughout the child’s stay, she said.
“We’ve taken down those barriers,” she said.
The first round of training focuses on keeping the child safe, how the foster system works and dealing with behaviors resulting from trauma, Edwards said. It also covers ways to handle changing roles when a grandparent or aunt becomes a full-time caregiver, she said.
Families going through the process now tend to report less stress than those who had to take the full training, which wasn’t always feasible for people working full time, said Suzanne Daniels, family engagement division manager for Boulder County.
“Six hours is so much more manageable,” she said.
‘The opportunity to focus on parenting’
The larger counties have designated kinship workers to help families with whatever resources and training they need while caring for a foster child, Daniels said. Generally, that works better than trying to teach everything they might need to know when the child first moves in, she said.
“We’re able to support families, get them the financial assistance they need, while allowing them the opportunity to focus on parenting,” she said.
Kinship families still have to complete a home safety inspection and an abridged version of the assessment given to other foster families.
Exactly what that involves will depend on the child’s age and needs, Daniels said. For example, a teenager doesn’t need the same level of child-proofing as a toddler, but the family would need a safety plan if the teen has a history of self-harm, she said.
When a child first enters the system, the department has instructed counties to ask parents who the important people are in the child’s life who might be able to either take them or help support their foster family, Edwards said.
Reunification with the birth family is the best outcome, but when that’s not possible, a permanent placement with someone the child already knows is the next-best option, she said.
“We’re really trying to broaden who the village is around that child,” she said.
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Colorado
Two-alarm fire damages hotel in Estes Park, 1 person taken to a Colorado hospital
A two-alarm fire damaged a hotel in Estes Park on Friday night. It happened at Expedition Lodge Estes Park just north of Lake Estes.
The lodge, located at 1701 North Lake Avenue on the east side of the Colorado mountain town, was evacuated after 8:30 p.m. and the fire chief said by 10 p.m. the fire was under control.
One person was hurt and taken to a hospital.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. So far it’s not clear how much damage it caused.
A total of 25 firefighters fought the blaze.
Colorado
Warm storm delivers modest totals to Colorado’s northern mountains
Lucas Herbert/Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
Friday morning wrapped up a warm storm across Colorado’s northern and central mountains, bringing totals of up to 10 inches of snowfall for several resorts.
Higher elevation areas of the northern mountains — particularly those in and near Summit County and closer to the Continental Divide — received the most amount of snow, with Copper, Winter Park and Breckenridge mountains seeing among the highest totals.
Meanwhile, lower base areas and valleys received rain and cloudy skies, thanks to a warmer storm with a snow line of roughly 9,000 feet.
Earlier this week, OpenSnow meteorologists predicted the storm’s snow totals would be around 5-10 inches, closely matching actual totals for the northern mountains. The central mountains all saw less than 5 inches of snow.
Here’s how much snow fell between Wednesday through Friday morning for some Western Slope mountains, according to a Friday report from OpenSnow:
Aspen Mountain: 0.5 inches
Snowmass: 0.5 inches
Copper Mountain: 10 inches
Winter Park: 9 inches
Breckenridge Ski Resort: 9 inches
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area: 8.5 inches
Keystone Resort: 8 inches
Loveland Ski Area: 7 inches
Vail Mountain: 7 inches
Steamboat Resort: 6 inches
Beaver Creek: 6 inches
Irwin: 4.5 inches
Cooper Mountain: 4 inches
Sunlight: 0.5 inches
Friday and Saturday will be dry, while Sunday will bring northern showers. The next storms are forecast to be around March 3-4 and March 6-7, both favoring the northern mountains.
Colorado
Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild
The Colorado Avalanche had a chance Thursday night to regain some real separation between them and the Minnesota Wild.
It didn’t happen, and special teams were again an issue.
Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored a pair of power-play goals, while the Avalanche took too many penalties and did not convert its chances with the extra man in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena. The Wild scored on two of six power plays, both in the second period, then added a shorthanded goal into an empty net for good measure.
“We took six (penalties). Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a slow start to the second and then just kind of started getting going, then took a bunch of penalties and kind of took the momentum away and swung it back in their favor again.”
Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent early in this contest and stopped 31 of 34 shots for the Avs in his first start since the Olympic break. Colorado, which went 0-for-3 on the power play, has not scored an extra-man goal in back-to-back games since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The Avs are 2-for-31 with the man advantage since Jan. 16, and at 15.1% are last in the NHL.
The Wild are now just five points behind the Avs in the Central Division, though Colorado has two games in hand. Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for the visitors.
“I think we crated enough chances to win the hockey game,” Bednar said. “We give up the (second power-play goal) and that’s the difference in the hockey game for me. We had a chance (on the power play) … we score and it’s a tie game. We haven’t had an easy time capitalizing on some of our chances that we created in the last month.
“I’d like to see that turn around a little bit.”
Minnesota took advantage of three penalties on Colorado in a span of 53 seconds to take the lead with 2:23 left in the second period. Captain Gabe Landeskog was sent to the box for elbowing Eriksson Ek away from the play at 14:15 and Valeri Nichushkin was called for cross-checking at 15:04.
That gave the Wild a 5-on-3, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry for the home side. Brock Nelson won the 3-on-5 in his own end, but Brent Burns’ backhanded attempt to clear the puck out of the zone went into the stands for a delay of game.
Minnesota had a 5-on-3 for 1:56, which Colorado successfully killed off, but because Burns’ two minutes didn’t start until Landeskog’s penalty ended, there was more 5-on-4 time and Eriksson Ek scored his second of the night. The Swedish Olympian was trying to send a cross-crease pass to Kirill Kaprizov, but it hit the inside of Blackwood’s right leg and pinballed across the goal line.
Because of the extended penalty time, both Eriksson Ek and Boldy officially logged a shift of more than four minutes, leading to that goal.
“I’m not a big fan of the penalties we took, necessarily,” Landeskog said. “Obviously, mine is a penalty. Val, I felt like he was protecting himself and Burns, that’s a penalty. There’s nothing to argue about there. But yeah, that tilts the ice for sure and just gives them unnecessary momentum.
“So yeah, undisciplined and we’ve got to be better there for sure.”
Eriksson Ek put Minnesota in front at 7:48 of the second period. Cale Makar was called for slashing when his one-handed swipe while Yakov Trenin was attempting to shoot from the left wing. Trenin’s stick broke, so Makar went to the box.
Blackwood made the initial save on Matt Boldy’s shot from the high slot, but Eriksson Ek was there near the left post to clean up the rebound.
Martin Necas continued his hot run with a goal to even the score at 13:30 of the middle frame. Nathan MacKinnon picked up the puck in his own zone and carried it into the offensive end. He left a drop pass for Necas near the right point and then played fullback, driving Wild defenseman Daemon Hunt back to give Necas space and then providing a screen on a lethal wrist shot from his Czech linemate.
That was Necas’ 24th goal of the season. He added a second goal in the final minute after the Wild had built a three-goal advantage to give him 25 on the season.
It’s also three in two games since the Olympic break. Necas had three goals and eight points in five games for Czechia at the Olympics in Milan, equaling his country’s record for points at the event.
MacKinnon missed Colorado’s first game back on Wednesday because of maintenance. He actually slipped to third in the NHL scoring race as of Thursday morning, in part because Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov has now has 53 points in his past 23 games to track down MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid to make it a three-man race for the Art Ross Trophy.
McDavid (five times) and Kucherov (three) have combined to win the Art Ross in eight of the past nine years. MacKinnon has never won it, but has finished second each of the past two seasons.
Minnesota scored a second goal off a Colorado player to make it a 3-1 game and then added two empty-net tallies around Necas’ second goal to seal the Wild’s sixth win in a row.
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