This evaluation will focus on the following six areas: Employment and Self-Sufficiency; Impact on Children and Families; Employment Preparation Services; Child Care; Impact on State and Local Programs, and Costs and Benefits.

Year 2 Survey: Random sample of participants who received Colorado Works cash assistance for at least one month between October and December 1999.

Year 2 Survey: 554 respondents; response rate of 79%.

This report examines recent trends in Colorado Works caseload size and expenditures. Among the significant findings resulting from analyses of caseload trends, employment outcomes and post exit services participation are:

This report examines two components of the Colorado Works program—diversion and work activity participation—which illustrate the diverse types of assistance Colorado counties can offer low-income families under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program:

• In SFY 2002, TANF-countable expenditures for Child Welfare program services remained stable at $52.1 million, or 23 percent, of total TANF expenditures.
• Most counties we visited rely on clients to self-report their involvement in both the Child Welfare and Colorado Works systems.
• Confidentiality issues were often cited by program staff as a barrier to collaboration between the Colorado Works and Child Welfare programs.

• The Colorado Works program experienced a 12 percent increase in its caseload in SFY 2002.
• About one in five recipients exiting Colorado Works returns within a year.
• After three years of employment, the median earnings of former Colorado Works recipients remain low.
• There has not been a pronounced increase in the entry rates into the Child Welfare program by children in families that have exited Colorado Works cash assistance.
• The size of the dual-system caseload in Colorado, defined as the proportion of children receiving cash assistance who also have an open Child Welfare case, is significant.

• CCCAP funding is expected to decline significantly in the coming year.
• Counties have begun to implement a number of strategies to address CCCAP funding cutbacks.

• Only one-quarter of all employed Colorado Works leavers transition to subsidized child care after exiting.

• Between July 1997 and June 2003 the Colorado Works Basic Cash Assistance (BCA) caseload decreased by about 46 percent, from 27,898 to 15,159.
• Total Colorado Works Program spending declined during State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2003 for the first time since the start of the program.
• Overall, less than 1 percent (on average, 74 cases) of the average monthly adult headed caseload of 9,051 in SFY 2003 received cash assistance due to an extension to the 60-month time limit.
• Re-entry rates among Colorado Works leavers have been increasing for several years.
• The recent economic slowdown appears to have had a significant impact on the employment rate of recent Colorado Works leavers.

• Colorado Works participants often have difficulty achieving self-sufficiency due to substance abuse problems or mental illness.
• The counties have undertaken a variety of endeavors to assist Colorado Works participants with mental illness or substance abuse problems.
• The Colorado Department of Human Services met the legislative mandate to designate a nationally recognized screening instrument to identify substance abuse and mental illness among Colorado Works participants and to provide training to county staff on the use of this screening.
• Cost data on providing mental health and substance abuse screening, referral, and assessment are very limited, precluding a thorough analysis of the cost effectiveness of these services.
• Rates of both tax filing and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) participation have improved compared with the 1999 rates reported in BPA’s Second Annual Report.
• The issue of transportation as a barrier to self-sufficiency has not changed since BPA first discussed the problem in the 2000 Second Annual Report.

• The Department should work with the county departments of human and social services to identify training opportunities for appropriate Colorado Works practitioners and outside service providers who have contact with Colorado Works participants in recognizing and identifying mental health and substance abuse problems.
• The Department should continue to work with the county departments of human and social services to encourage regional and statewide collaboration to leverage resources and coordinate services.
• The Department should provide support to the county departments of human and social services in their efforts to assist Colorado Works participants with the most severe disabilities to apply for SSI, by helping to establish working relationships with SSA and facilitating these relationships as needed.
• The Department, in collaboration with the county departments of human and social services, should document the effectiveness of serving Colorado Works participants with co-occurring disorders using an integrated service approach. The Department should provide information about the effectiveness of these programs to the counties.
• The Department should work with the county departments of social and human services to modify data collection and reporting requirements to ensure data (including cost data) related to screening, assessment, and referral for mental health, substance abuse, or dual diagnosis services to Colorado Works participants are routinely compiled and reported.
• The Department should enhance its efforts to maximize Earned Income Tax Credit participation among Colorado Works participants and other low-income individuals by evaluating the effectiveness of various outreach methods and by continuing to partner with the counties and other entities to encourage and assist Colorado Works participants and others in filing income tax returns and claiming the EITC.
• The Department should provide training to all Colorado Works staff, including case managers, on the importance of tax filing for low income populations, including information on claiming the EITC. Sessions on tax filing and the EITC should be included in the Department's annual Professional Development Academy.

• Ensure procedures are in place to allow county program staff to readily identify dual-system cases. In particular, the Department should:
  1. generate monthly status reports identifying children with open Child Welfare and Colorado Works cases (including new and ongoing cases);
  2. distribute status reports on a monthly basis to county program managers in both the Child Welfare and Colorado Works programs.
• Ensure that the Child Welfare and Colorado Works programs share client information appropriately for the purposes of identifying client needs, developing coordinated service plans, coordinating case management activities, and facilitating joint services discharge or transfer processes. To eliminate confidentiality obstacles, the Department should issue rules that mandate the use of its confidentiality policy and forms as outlined in the CDHS reference manual entitled: Sharing Customer Information through a Common Consent Procedure.
• Improve coordination between the Child Welfare and Colorado Works programs and eliminate conflicting client requirements by:
  1. Requiring counties to specify in their County Plans formal procedures to ensure that Colorado Works case managers and Child Welfare case workers effectively collaborate in case management and service planning for dual-system clients, including development and modification of Colorado Works Individual Responsibility Contracts for dual-system clients;
  2. Requiring counties to specify in their County Plans how they will train new and existing Child Welfare and Colorado Works staff regarding the basic eligibility criteria, services available, and referral procedures for both programs;
  3. Disseminating to County program managers in both written form and in staff trainings current best practices for Child Welfare and Colorado Works program collaboration, including those identified in this report.

• Ensure counties provide child care assistance consistent with legislative intent and departmental policy by addressing prioritization afforded to transitioning Colorado Works recipients, families with income below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, participants in education and training programs, and other eligible low-income families. This should be achieved by:
  1. promulgating rules that clarify which participant groups should receive priority for child care assistance
  2. proposing statutory changes as needed
• Consider adjusting the parental fee schedule for child care assistance to require all families with more than one child in care to pay an additional fee that would range from $5 to $40, depending on family income.
• Ensure that counties do not require an LICC application from transitioning Colorado Works recipients by clarifying eligibility rules for LICC (CCR 3.904.1, A3). This rule should be amended to state that counties shall not require applications for transitioning Colorado Works recipients.
• Streamline the transition from Colorado Works to LICC by changing current rules regarding CCCAP and Colorado Works immunization record requirements. The rule change should reduce transitioning parents’ administrative responsibilities, while complying with federal immunization regulations. This should be achieved by:
  1. allowing school enrollment to serve as sufficient proof of current immunization for school-age children receiving LICC assistance;
  2. requiring counties to collect immunization records for all children under school age at entry to Colorado Works;
  3. requiring that immunization records are current, as defined by Department of Public Health and Environment guidelines, and eliminating the requirement that records be current within 60 days for those transitioning to LICC from Colorado Works.