Mission: to assist families in working toward a safe and stable home, equipped with the necessary tools for immediate and future use

Goals

  • Secure safety in the home
  • Help families satisfy immediate needs of the household
  • Link families to essential community resources
  • Communicate with related counties in the interest of the families

KEEP stands for Key Essential Elements of Permanency and is being utilized by Denver County to support kinship providers and the children in their care.  Maple Star created and implemented this program to assist families and officials of participating counties and states in achieving and maintaining stability in the home and creating permanency for the related children.  Through an emphasis on family engagement, the KEEP Kinship Program focuses on family strengths in an effort to identify their challenges, engage the families in the process, and work to create self-sufficiency. The success of the program rests on this premise and is further enhanced by the availability of the KEEP kinship staff as well as the creativity they provide in responding to a family’s needs.  The KEEP kinship program is a strengths-based program that works in collaboration with the family and the county.

When the county kinship worker completes the Kinship Supports Needs Assessment with the family during the initial home visit, this will be when you know if a referral to the KEEP Kinship Program is appropriate.  KEEP addresses most of the identified ongoing needs directly, and we can link the family with resources to help in the few areas that we do not address in depth.  While we do so, we provide caseworkers with detailed notes within 24hrs of any client contact.

We specialize in, and directly address, the following areas:

  • Financial Navigation Education
  • Advocating for Child/Self
  • Parenting/ Discipline/ Rules/ Boundaries
  • Child Development
  • Nutrition Education
  • Home Safety/ Childproofing
  • Family Communication
  • Role Definition
  • Organization
  • School Enrollment
  • Ongoing Daily Necessities
  • ADHD/ ADD
  • Child Exposure: Trauma Informed Care
  • Stress Relief/ Self-Regulation
  • Grief and Loss
  • Anger Management
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Support Groups
  • Employment Resources
  • Liaison with Professionals
  • Family Connections and Support

We will assist the family with connecting with the resources addressing the following areas:

  • Financial Assistance
  • Credit Counseling
  • Individual Counseling
  • Family Counseling
  • Child Care Enrollment
  • Employment Resources
  • Legal Assistance
  • Food Banks
  • Food Stamps
  • Hotline Numbers
  • Housing
  • IEP/ Education Services