Child and Family Services
Serving children, youth, and families
At Ariel, we believe every child deserves the chance to heal, grow, and flourish—and every family walking alongside them deserves a team that shows up. For more than three decades, starting with foster care, we’ve built new programs as new needs became clear: consistent time with birth parents, permanent homes through adoption, a place to stabilize when a family setting isn’t enough, a steady adult outside the parenting role, and therapy to help children process what they’ve been through.
Our team coordinates closely across every program. We offer foster care for children who can’t safely stay with their birth families, with family time woven in to keep birth families connected. When a child needs more structure than a family setting can provide, Ariel sponsors and supervises group centers across Colorado. Adoption gives a permanent home to children who can’t return home, whether through the public system or private adoption. Mentoring pairs children and youth with a consistent adult outside the parenting role. And our child and family therapy team helps children and families process trauma and build the skills to move forward.
Compassionate and qualified professionals
Ariel is a licensed child placement agency (CPA) in Colorado. That means we’re approved by the Colorado Department of Human Services to:
- Certify and support foster families, including therapeutic and treatment foster homes
- Support private and public adoptions
- Sponsor and supervise specialized group facilities (SGFs), known as group centers
We’re also an approved provider for the Children’s Habilitation Residential Program (CHRP) waiver. It funds services for children and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), including youth mentoring.
Our therapists have specialized training in trauma-focused care, and many have worked in the child welfare system themselves, so families rarely have to start by explaining how foster care works.
Beyond credentials, what really defines us is our heart. We’re a team of people who meet a child’s behavior with curiosity first, because it usually has a story behind it. We see foster parents as partners, learning and growing right along with us. We believe birth families working toward reunification deserve support and respect. When everyone around a child has support, the child does, too.
Child and Family Services at Ariel
Every child and family we serve is different—some need one program, others benefit from several working together at once. Whatever the path, our team coordinates closely so families are supported by people who already know their story.
We serve children, youth, and families across Colorado from five regional HQs. Foster care, group centers, and adoption reach families throughout the state. Child and Family Therapy and Youth Mentoring are based on Colorado’s Western Slope. Wherever you live, our team is committed to helping every child and family access what they need.
Not sure where to start? If you’re thinking about becoming a foster parent, our Become a Foster Parent page lays out each step to getting licensed. County caseworkers and professionals can reach out to their regional HQ to talk through placement needs. Our Child and Family Services FAQs answer the questions we hear most. You’re always welcome to contact your regional HQ to talk through options together.
Foster Care
When a child can’t stay safely at home, foster care gives them a safe home with a licensed family for as long as they need one. We check in with each foster family as often as that family needs, and our clinical team is on call day or night. Family time keeps children connected to their birth families along the way, and reunification comes first whenever it’s safe.
Thinking about fostering? Learn about becoming a foster parent.
Group Centers
Some children and youth need more structure and staffing than a family home can offer. Group centers are homes run by owner-operators, and Ariel sponsors and supervises them, with weekly visits from an Ariel case manager. Every stay is a step toward what comes next, whether that’s a foster home, going home to family, or adoption, and we work to keep young people in Colorado, close to the people they know.
Interested in running a group center? Learn about becoming a group center owner-operator.
Adoption
Adoption at Ariel starts with two families in mind: the one a child is born into and the one who will raise them. We support private adoption, where a birth parent chooses the adoptive family, and adoption from foster care, when a child can’t safely return home. Adoptive families get ready for the long run, and birth parents get support of their own.
Youth Mentoring
Some children haven’t had many steady relationships with adults in their lives. A Youth Mentoring mentor is one more adult who keeps showing up, for a couple of hours each week. Together they work on what matters to that young person, from handling big feelings to trying something new, and the mentor stays connected to the rest of the child’s team.
Child and Family Therapy
Trauma, loss, and big changes at home can show up in a child’s sleep, schoolwork, and moods. Our therapists help children, youth, and families work through what they’re carrying, using approaches like play therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Sessions are in person on Colorado’s Western Slope, where therapists can check in with a child’s case manager as things come up. Families outside that area can ask their regional HQ for help finding someone nearby.
Stories on this site are about real people. To protect their privacy, names, details, and images may have been changed.
