Rewiring strategically deploys public and private funds to ultimately yield a system that prevents children and families from having to “get worse” before becoming eligible to receive the help they need. Shifting dollars from high-cost, late-stage interventions to lower-cost, preventative support will save money and will improve outcomes for kids, families, and society.

Rewiring will drive this through targeted programmatic and financial support to advance a system of child wellbeing that:

• Reduces the number of children and families entering the child welfare system by engaging early in ways that strengthen families before child welfare services are needed;
• Improves the quality of child welfare services for children and families who need them; and
• Reshapes the flow of local, state, and ultimately national funding to primary and secondary prevention to all who need them in a sustainable manner.

The child welfare funnel: A visual image used in Rewiring that shows the current flow of children into the different levels of child welfare involvement and the costs associated. Data sourced September 2020.

Within 3-5 years, Rewiring will:

• Demonstrate practical, county-tested road maps that show how the Rewiring of funding and policy can update the system and sustainably reduce the number of children and families entering it. These proofs of concept will be scalable and replicable across Colorado and beyond; and
• Reduce trauma across Colorado and beyond as families no longer need to “get worse” to get the support they need.