John Inmann Work and Family Center (WFC)

Colorado Department of Corrections

The Work and Family Center (WFC) is a multi-agency collaboration designed to facilitate the successful reintegration of individuals released from Colorado prisons and to help prevent recidivism. It provides participants with employment assistance, advises on child support issues, and aids the process of family reintegration, if applicable and desired.

Description

The WFC addresses an array of issues that individuals confront when they are released, from employment and family reintegration to child support. It was the first program in the United States to include child-support assistance among the services offered to paroled and released individuals. By August 2001, the WFC was serving approximately 70 new clients each month with nine fulltime staff and four part-time workers/consultants. Since then, they have served an additional 1,000 clients a year, with up to 10,000 sign-ins annually.

Participants in the WFC have the opportunity to meet with a general case manager, an employment specialist, and a child support specialist, if appropriate. The WFC runs a job resource room and a pre-employment workshop. They also provide access to a family law attorney and a therapist to needful participants, and those participants who meet the requirements for Welfare-to-Work may qualify for other services, such as bus tokens and work tools. In addition, WFC staff provides clients with assistance with food, clothing, and referrals to other service agencies. Participants assessed as high-risk receive intensive case management, which begins at sign-in by agreement between the case manager and the participant, and includes both immediate and long-term planning. Case managers carry a caseload of about 150 participants each.

The WCF helps participants locate jobs for which they are qualified that will fulfill their needs better than the low-wage jobs that they might otherwise find. The agency partners with workforce centers, colleges, and vocational-technical programs to place participants, and an Employer Advisory Council cultivates strong relationships with employers. WFC staff analyze employer needs in an attempt to match up participant-employees thoughtfully, and offer incentives to employers through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and U.S. Fidelity Insuring Bonding program.

The WFC also offers three types of family reintegration services to its participants. One is the service of a professional mediator (including parent-teen intervention workshops). A second is a private meeting with a family law attorney, who explains custody and child support laws, and assists participants with filings such as a Motion to Establish Parenting Time (visitation). Lastly, the WFC facilitates supervised visitation.

A WFC specialist can provide information on child support to participants and make recommendations to the enforcing county. In Denver County cases, specialists may also advocate for participants, or help in filing for reduction of payments or debt, or for the reinstatement of driver’s licenses that have been suspended for nonpayment of support and the suspension of other automated enforcement remedies.

The Work and Family Center is a cooperative effort between the Colorado Department of Corrections, Colorado Department of Human Services, Colorado Department of Human Services, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Colorado Department of Public Safety/Division of Criminal Justice, Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and Denver Department of Human Services. Funding for the Center is received from the partner agencies and grant money received through the Drug Control and System Improvement Program, and the Welfare to Work Program.