The journey toward a truly family-centered approach to supporting families impacted by perinatal substance use is gaining momentum in Colorado.
To accelerate implementation of Plans of Safe Care (POSC), the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), Division of Child Welfare (DCW), is resourcing a four-year pilot initiative in the San Luis Valley. The pilot is laying the groundwork for something bigger: a scalable, statewide POSC Framework that can be adapted to local community needs and context.
What is a POSC?
“A Plan of Safe Care is a family-centered plan designed to ensure the safety and well-being of an infant affected by prenatal substance exposure by addressing the immediate safety, health, and substance use treatment needs of the infant and affected family or caregiver. The Plan of Safe Care is developed in collaboration with the birthing parent and a multidisciplinary team to identify needs and connect the family to resources in the community. Best practice suggests that a Plan of Safe Care should be designed to meet both the short- and long-term needs of the family, with the goal of strengthening the family and keeping the child safely in the home.” – Plans of Safe Care | Colorado Department of Human Services
Rather than creating a singular program or model, the POSC Pilot is building and testing a data-informed POSC Framework—one that can flexibly support local communities across Colorado while driving alignment at the state level. This approach is intentional. As demand grows for POSC implementation, the POSC Framework is designed to offer consistency, clarity, and a shared vision—without limiting local innovation or responsiveness.
The Pilot is being led by a powerful partnership between the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab (evidence-building lead), Illuminate Colorado (pilot intermediary), and the Kempe Center (subject matter expertise).
Together, this pilot team brings a rich blend of research, implementation, and topic expertise to support a cohesive statewide strategy. In collaboration with CDHS, the pilot team partners with local health care, community-based, child welfare, and lived expertise organizations to design and test the POSC Framework.
The POSC Framework emphasizes prenatal POSC for upstream prevention, a community-based approach to reduce stigma, and care coordination across providers to achieve family thriving.
The SuPPoRT Colorado Plan of Safe Care Work Group has played an essential role in supporting the POSC Pilot by bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise to consult on the implementation of the POSC Framework and development of Plan of Safe Care Tools. The input from this Work Group has ensured the Framework implementation is well-informed, grounded in stakeholder needs, and aligned with broader statewide objectives. SuPPoRT Colorado is also a key mechanism for scaling the POSC Framework statewide as communities are ready to adopt.
The team recently released an Implementation Report capturing key learnings from year one of the pilot. The report offers a window into how communities are activating POSC through local pathways, what infrastructure is proving essential, and how to ensure the work is driven by the voices and needs of families themselves. These insights highlight early successes, identify opportunities for adaptation, and point the way toward lasting systems change.
This is an open invitation: we welcome conversations, questions, and collaborations with families, community partners, and systems leaders who are working to prevent, treat, and support recovery from perinatal substance use.
Explore the full report and join the conversation as we work together toward a future where every family is met with the care, support, and dignity they deserve.
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