About

Our Mission

Inspired by the compassionate love of Christ, Lutheran Family Services walks with the vulnerable, through services that heal, strengthen, and provide hope.

Our Values

We believe that all people, from the newborn infant to the most elderly person, deserve to be valued in our community. Therefore, Lutheran Family Services is committed to offering love and support to the people it serves, regardless of race, religion, gender, or age, to help equip them to live full and whole lives.

History

Founded in 1948 to provide adoptive placement for babies, over time programs were added to meet new community needs: birth parent counseling, foster care, aging services, international adoptions, services to refugees, aid following disasters, and parent education. In 1995 LFS began its unique teen pregnancy prevention program that is provided to middle and high schools in Northern Colorado. Since 2000, LFS has added: an African American Caregiver Support Program; an infant adoption awareness training program for healthcare providers; a Fall Prevention hotline for older adults; foster care services for unaccompanied refugee minors; an employment training center for refugees; and basic legal immigration services. In 2012 LFS assumed operations of a SafeTouch Body Safety program, family visitation facility and parenting education classes in Weld County, and opened a refugee services office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. LFS is now one of the largest private foster care providers in the state and the largest refugee resettlement agency in the Rocky Mountain region.

With offices located in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley/Evans and Fort Morgan, CO and Albuquerque, NM, and services provided in Wyoming, Montana and Western Nebraska, LFS now responds to critical social and emotional needs of approximately 30,000 people annually. The issues encountered daily by LFS staff and volunteers include unintended pregnancy, family violence, child abuse and neglect, the impact of man-made and natural disasters, older adult isolation, and the plight of refugees and documented immigrants. LFS develops and provides programs that not only respond to such issues, but also help to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place. LFS accomplishments over the past fiscal year (FY11-12) include:
  • Refugee resettlement and asylee services to 1,157 individuals
  • Foster care to 274 domestic children through 165 therapeutic and traditional foster homes
  • Foster care and independent living services to 62 unaccompanied refugee minors
  • Family services to 132 families
  • Therapy services to 41 children in care around the state
  • Visitation and safe exchange services to 480 parents
  • Care management and other direct services to 376  older adults and caregivers
  • Parent education and support and child abuse prevention to 435 adults and 122 children
  • Adoption placements of 38 children and services to 71 adoptive and waiting parents
  • Options counseling services to 40 women and 12 of their partners/family members
  • Teen pregnancy prevention services in 18 schools, with 1,542 students
  • Family immigration legal services to 621 individuals
  • Emergency shelter and support services to 42 rural runaway/homeless youth
  • SafeTouch: Body Safety Program delivered to 10,714 elementary school children
  • Education and enrichment services to more than 10,000 individuals.