Roxy Tines has been helping children and parents for the past decade. She is a former Larimer County caseworker who worked for the county from 2014 until 2022 and is now the chapter director of an organization called Safe Families For Children. Safe Families for Children is a national organization out of Chicago dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect, reducing the number of children entering the child welfare system and stabilizing families.
Tines brought a chapter to Northern Colorado in 2020, after she searched for hosting family resources and found out about one of the two already existing chapters in the state. She said she initially wanted to just bring the resource to the area for her coworkers, but soon realized this was her path to helping families more. “It’s really to show families that are having a tough time that there is somebody that cares about them,” said Tines.
“Because that can mean a world of difference. I’ve had families call me and I (gave) them an hour to just process what they are going through, and after they feel better.” Tines estimated that 75%-90% of her referrals come from the county, while the rest come directly from struggling families.
Since 2020, Tines said that Safe Families for Children has helped people in more than 50 cases and hosted more than 1,500 nights for families. Tines said that during her time working with the county, she found that many families were going through crises alone. She said the chapter has filled the gap.
“Where you and I can probably think if something tragic or a crisis is happening to us, we can think of five to 10 people to call. I would be out in the field in the middle of the night or on the weekend, and we couldn’t find anybody for them to call. That’s what really felt like a missing piece for these families that I worked with,” said Tines.
Tines said there are over 40 organizations in the region that work with children and families within the county, but the relationship building that takes place with families who seek support makes Safe Families for Children stand out. She said that when a case closes with the county, resources such as therapy or life coaches go away as well. That’s where the relationship building comes in with Safe Families for Children and parents can seek support long after their case closes.
“I realized that when I was a caseworker because I would build these relationships with these families and when the door closes, the resources are closed. The beautiful thing about Safe Families is when Safe Families goes away, they can still call our volunteer team and have those lifelong relationships,” said Tines. The chapter has grown from a one-person operation to a three-person since its founding four years ago.
Andrea McFarlane is the family coach supervisor who helps handle training for volunteer families, and Katie Borchett is the outreach coordinator who helps find sponsoring businesses and partnerships with local churches. The church partnerships are instrumental to the success of Safe Families for Children as that is where the majority of their volunteers originate from. The chapter has partnerships with three Loveland churches, Church at Loveland, Lifespring Covenant Church and Foundations Church, alongside two churches in Fort Collins, Zion Lutheran in Wellington and the Foundations Church in Windsor.
Safe Families for Children offers four different volunteer roles for helping out the organization that Tines called the “Circle of Support.” Tines said they’re constantly bringing in volunteers but their last count was over 75. Host families temporarily provide kids a safe space when they are experiencing a crisis.
Family coaches visit host families to support them and assure the child is safe and also work with parents in crisis to connect them with needed resources. Family friends work directly with families who need support in matters such as babysitting, providing transportation and providing guidance. Resource friends support host families and parents in crisis with tangible goods such as diapers, car seats, meals and clothes.
The chapter also has hosted two annual fundraisers for the past three years. On May 4, they hosted their second annual Laps 4-Love fundraising event, similar to the Laps For Learning fundraising done at elementary schools. On Nov.
22, they will host their third annual Harvest Gala at the Lowry Student Center at Colorado State University, where volunteers and families will speak about their experiences with Safe Families for Children. The organization mainly serves the Fort Collins area and Loveland area but Tines said they are looking to expand partnerships into the Greeley region as well. To learn more about how to donate or get involved with Safe Families for Children, visit the website at northern-colorado.
safe-families.org ..
