988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988, any hour, free · 988lifeline.org
Colorado Crisis Services — 1-844-493-8255, or text "TALK" to 38255 · coloradocrisisservices.org — Colorado's own 24/7 line with walk-in centers in some areas. Reaching out is support, not an admission of anything.
One number that finds almost everything
211 Colorado
The statewide navigator for food, rent help, utilities, childcare, transportation, and more — free, confidential, multilingual. When you don't know who to call, this is who to call.
Dial 2-1-1 · 211colorado.org
Legal help
Office of Respondent Parents' Counsel (ORPC)
Colorado's system of free, court-appointed lawyers for parents in dependency & neglect cases who qualify financially. If a case is filed, this is the parent's lawyer's home office.
Colorado Legal Services
Free civil legal aid for Coloradans with limited income — housing, benefits, family matters, and more.
Court self-help centers ("Sherlocks")
Every Colorado judicial district has self-help staff who explain forms and procedure for people without lawyers — not legal advice, but real navigation help, free, at the courthouse.
Colorado Law Help
Plain-language legal information and free forms for Coloradans handling things themselves — plus a map of court help centers by county.
Child Protection Ombudsman of Colorado
The independent state office that takes complaints about the child-protection system itself — outside the county chain.
Read the law yourself
Nothing about the law is off-limits to parents. These are the same free sources lawyers and law students use — and this site's glossary translates the vocabulary as you go.
Cornell Law — Legal Information Institute
Cornell Law School's free law library: the Wex encyclopedia explains legal concepts in relatively plain terms, alongside the full text of statutes, rules, and the Constitution.
law.cornell.edu/wex · law.cornell.edu
Searches parents find useful: "parental rights" · "due process" · "Fourth Amendment" · "termination of parental rights" · "guardian ad litem" · "burden of proof" · "clear and convincing evidence" · "hearsay"
Colorado's Children's Code (Title 19)
The actual Colorado statutes that govern dependency & neglect cases. Article 3 is the dependency-and-neglect part. Heavy reading — the glossary and guides here exist to make it survivable.
Browse Title 19 (public.law) · Official PDF (leg.colorado.gov)
How parents read law without drowning
A pattern many use: look the concept up in Wex first (plain-ish English), then find the Colorado statute, then bring the exact section number to their attorney with a specific question. Judges and lawyers respect a parent who arrives with "§ and question" instead of "I read somewhere that…".
Call-recording tools
Colorado is generally a one-party-consent state for your own conversations — but there are real limits (courtrooms, other people's conversations, calls to other states). Read Can I Record This? first; it's short and it's the most important five minutes on this topic.
Cube ACR (Android)
A widely used call recorder with a free tier. On newer Android versions it needs its companion app, Cube ACR Helper, installed alongside it to capture both sides of a call.
Talker ACR (Android)
Another well-known free-tier recorder, with its own Talker ACR Helper companion for newer Android versions — their site walks through the setup.
Talker ACR on Google Play
Setup guide + Helper (talkeracr.app)
iPhone — the honest version
Apple heavily restricts call recording, so iPhone apps are limited. What many iPhone users do instead: speakerphone plus the Voice Memos app on a second device — or take detailed same-day notes in the Documentation Log, which no phone can restrict.
Apps change with every phone update — test on an unimportant call first, check your recording actually has both voices, and back recordings up somewhere safe. In-person conversations have their own options and cautions; the recording guide covers them. Listing an app is informational, not an endorsement.
Counseling, mental health & substance use treatment
OwnPath
Colorado's official directory of licensed mental-health and substance-use providers — searchable by location, need, payment type (including Medicaid and sliding scale), and language.
SAMHSA National Helpline
Free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral for mental health and substance use — a fast way to find programs, including low-cost options.
1-800-662-4357 (HELP) · samhsa.gov
Colorado Crisis Services
Beyond emergencies: they also connect people to ongoing behavioral-health care.
1-844-493-8255 · text "TALK" to 38255 · coloradocrisisservices.org
NAMI Colorado
Free peer-led support groups and classes for people living with mental-health conditions and for their families — local chapters across the state.
Treatment-plan tip: providers on a plan sometimes need county approval — many parents confirm a provider "counts" (in writing, via caseworker or attorney) before starting. Barriers like waitlists belong on the record the day they appear — the case-plan guide covers how.
Housing
Colorado Housing Connects
Colorado's housing helpline: rent and eviction help, landlord-tenant questions, foreclosure prevention, and housing navigation statewide.
Rent, utility & shelter help via 211
Emergency assistance programs come and go by county and season — 211 keeps the live list, including shelters and utility assistance near you.
Dial 2-1-1 · 211colorado.org
Domestic violence
National Domestic Violence Hotline
24/7, free, confidential — safety planning, local referrals, and someone who understands, including how DV and CPS cases tangle together.
1-800-799-7233 · text "START" to 88788 · thehotline.org
Violence Free Colorado
Colorado's statewide DV coalition — their site lists local advocacy programs and shelters across the state.
Survivors in CPS cases carry an unfair double burden. DV advocates (free, confidential) know this terrain — including how protective steps read in a dependency case — and can coordinate with your attorney.
Food
Hunger Free Colorado — Food Resource Hotline
One statewide call connects families to food pantries, meal programs, and SNAP application help — free, confidential, and multilingual.
Food Bank of the Rockies
Serves metro Denver, northern Colorado, and the Western Slope — their "Find Food" map lists free pantries and mobile pantries near you. Most sites don't ask for proof of income.
Care and Share Food Bank
The food bank for southern Colorado — Colorado Springs, Pueblo, the San Luis Valley, and beyond — with a pantry locator on their site.
SNAP & WIC
SNAP (food money on a card) and WIC (food and support for pregnancy and kids under 5) run through your county human services office — yes, the same building; benefits and child welfare are separate programs, and using benefits is not evidence against any parent.
cdhs.colorado.gov/snap · coloradowic.gov · All regional food banks
Using a food bank is one of the most common, most normal things Colorado families do — pantries don't report to CPS, and a stocked kitchen is one more thing going right on the record.
Money, benefits & bills
Colorado PEAK
The state's online front door for public benefits — apply for SNAP, Health First Colorado (Medicaid), cash assistance, and childcare help in one place, from any phone or library computer.
LEAP — heat & energy bill help
The Low-income Energy Assistance Program helps with winter heating bills (applications generally open November through April). Applying is free and doesn't affect other benefits.
Childcare help (CCCAP)
The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program subsidizes childcare for lower-income families — applications run through county human services or Colorado PEAK. 211 can point to openings and backup options.
School help: 504 plans & IEPs
When a child needs extra support at school — for learning, attention, health, or feelings — federal law gives families two main paths: a 504 plan (adjustments like extra time, seating, or breaks) and an IEP (a full special-education plan with services and goals). Both are free, both are in writing, and parents are part of the team that writes them. During a CPS case, school stability and school records matter — a child's plan travels with them, and a parent who shows up for school meetings is building exactly the kind of record that speaks for itself.
PEAK Parent Center
Colorado's federally designated training center for families of children with disabilities — free help understanding 504s and IEPs, preparing for school meetings, and knowing what families can ask for.
Colorado Dept. of Education — for parents
The state's own special-education pages for families: rights, timelines, and what to do when a family and a school disagree.
Disability Law Colorado
The state's protection-and-advocacy organization — legal information and, in some cases, representation on disability rights, including special education.
Your public library
Free computers, wi-fi, printing & a calm table
Every public library in Colorado offers free computers and wi-fi, and most offer cheap or free printing, copying, and scanning — which is how many parents print records requests, save evidence to a flash drive, or join a virtual hearing when data runs out. Library cards are free, and library staff help without asking why.
Search your town + "public library," or browse the statewide list.
An example of what to ask for
Denver Public Library's technology access page shows the typical menu: computer time, printing, device help, even hotspot lending at some branches. Your local branch likely has its own version — asking costs nothing.
The tools on this site work on library computers too — and because they store data in that browser, many parents export a backup file to email or a flash drive before the session ends. The tools page explains how.
Family & parenting support
Family Resource Centers
Neighborhood centers across Colorado offering parenting classes, family advocacy, help with basics, and someone in your corner — often the friendliest door in the county. The statewide association's map finds the one near you.
Parenting classes that "count"
Treatment plans often require parenting classes. Family Resource Centers, county human services, and some nonprofits run free or sliding-scale ones — many parents confirm in writing that a specific class satisfies the plan before enrolling, and save the completion certificate the same day.
Listings are informational, not endorsements, and services change — phone first, and tell us via the feedback form if something here has gone stale. Know a resource that belongs on this page? Same form. This directory grows the way everything here grows: parents telling us what actually helped.