by Illuminate Colorado | Aug 7, 2024 | General, Safe Babies
In December of 2023, Illuminate Colorado welcomed our newest program, Safe Babies.
Safe Babies is a bottom-up approach to system and policy shifts that address the unique needs of infants, toddlers, and their caregivers who are entering or at risk of entering the child welfare system. The effort is rooted in honoring the experience of the individual family, respecting community culture, and using data to inform statewide efforts that globally support the well-being of all babies and their families.
Since last December, the Safe Babies program has been settling in to its new home at Illuminate. With the help of the rest of the Illuminate Colorado team, Safe Babies staff have been learning, growing, and making incredible progress in their ability to support families across Colorado.
The transition to Illuminate has been instrumental in the program’s success. The leadership and guidance of the supportive teams (Evaluation & Strategic Learning, Communications, Human Resources, etc.) has allowed the program to be delivered with a higher quality and strategic oversight that we believe will be instrumental in sustainability.
AnnaMarie Neal, LSW
Director of Safe Babies
Now that Safe Babies has been at Illuminate for nearly a year, it’s about time we took a deep dive into the program to discuss its different components, the demonstrated impact, and how it fits in with Illuminate’s strategies for supporting families!
Let’s learn a little more about Safe Babies…
Safe Babies consists of two interventions: Safe Babies Court Teams, an evidence-based intervention for families entering Child Welfare with at least one child under three; and Best for Babies, an innovative approach to preventing newborns from entering Child Welfare.
Through an innovative, team-based approach, the Safe Babies Court Team applies the science of early childhood development to meet the urgent needs of babies and toddlers under court jurisdiction, ultimately transforming child welfare practice. Through a local community coordinator, working in partnership with families, courts, child welfare agencies, and service providers, the program ignites collective action in local communities to strengthen families experiencing extreme hardships and meet the urgent needs of infants and toddlers who are under court jurisdiction and/or in foster care.
Meet the Safe Babies Court Team: Community Coordinators!
Arapahoe County
Huerfano County
Pueblo County
One of my favorite parts of this program is the emphasis placed on supporting parents. Our team works diligently to connect all the professionals involved to the parents in a trauma-responsive approach that creates an opportunity for success beyond the status quo. The healing and success these families accomplish is an honor to be invited to see.
AnnaMarie Neal, LSW
Director of Safe Babies
Learn more about the Safe Babies Court Team
Best for Babies is the prevention component of Illuminate Colorado’s Safe Babies program.
The goal for the Best for Babies Navigator is to eliminate the need for Child Welfare by helping caregivers navigate available services.
Best for Babies is an innovative approach to preventing newborns from entering Child Welfare in partnership with TANF and local community providers using foundations of local Safe Babies Court Teams to inform and improve primary prevention efforts from the bottom up. A Navigator with lived experience engages pregnant and newly birthed mothers (at risk of child welfare entry) in case management activities through recovery coaching and contingency management to enhance the coordination of local supports and prevent Child Welfare entry whenever possible.
Meet the Best for Babies Team: Family Navigator Sydney Salas
Learn more about Best for Babies
Meet the rest of the Safe Babies team…
In addition to Community Coordinators and a Best for Babies Family Navigator, the Safe Babies program also has staff who provide leadership, legal support, and data expertise.
Director of Safe Babies
AnnaMarie manages the Safe Babies team, helping to strengthen families in complex situations impacted by public and government systems.
In-house Counsel and Safe Babies Statewide Manager
Katie supports existing Safe Babies sites and assists with facilitation of the statewide expansion of the Safe Babies approach. She also leads the Safe Babies State Advisory Group.
Data Specialist
Mary enters and processes data for the Safe Babies program, in addition to coordinating with other programs to assist with their specific data needs.
Why Safe Babies? The undeniable positive impact.
Safe Babies has demonstrated remarkable impacts in Colorado, changing trajectories for infants and toddlers under court jurisdiction and/or in foster care. Results show that children in the program are reaching permanency three times faster than infants and toddlers in the general foster care population. And almost two-thirds of babies and toddlers are reunified or find permanent homes with members of their families.
Learn More about the Long-Term sustainable impact
In just a short amount of time, Safe Babies has proven to be an invaluable addition to Illuminate Colorado’s programs and services.
Although it was a heavy lift bringing in an entire program and all the amazing staff, Safe Babies was a natural fit into the work Illuminate is already doing. Safe Babies has allowed Illuminate to expand many areas of work, such as:
- Strengthening families impacted by substance use by connecting families with programs like Circle of Parents in Recovery,
- Building protective and promotive factors through learning opportunities for families and staff,
- Systems change through SuPPoRT Colorado and Child Abuse and Neglect Staffings (CANES),
- Continuing to build a community of support around families, which can be found in the Plans of Safe Care Pilot.
The opportunities for connection and cross collaboration between Safe Babies and Illuminate’s other programs are endless– and we are so excited to see where this work takes us.
Connecting families to opportunities for peer and community support in raising healthy babies and creating stable homes is a foundation of many Illuminate programs.
Jade Woodard, MPA
Executive Director of Illuminate Colorado
Interested in bringing Safe Babies to your community?
The Safe Babies team is always looking for partners interested in learning more strategies to support infants, toddlers, and their caregivers who are involved in Child Welfare. For inquiries about bringing the Safe Baby Court Team to your area or for technical assistance on specific topics related to the program, email the Director of Safe Babies, AnnaMarie Neal, at aneal@illuminatecolorado.org.
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