The Bluestem Progam

The campaign will close a critical gap in Colorado’s response to parental substance misuse: the lack of family-centered residential treatment where a parent, partner, and children can live together while receiving care. With substance use present in a large share of child protection removals in Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties, the need is urgent—and delaying action prolongs preventable separations that can drive long-term mental health and justice-system involvement.

Savio’s Bluestem, launched in summer 2026 in Lakewood, is an innovative full-family model built around six three-bedroom townhomes with 24/7 staffing in a trauma-informed, home-like setting. Parents receive substance use disorder treatment through Mile High Behavioral Health, while Savio therapists provide in-home, trauma-informed mental health services for children aligned with Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). Families also receive essential supports and workforce development through Innovate + Educate, plus a year of aftercare to support stability.

The campaign will underwrite the current $50,000 annual funding gap per family so nine families can enroll over two years, with basic needs support and outcomes tracked through individualized treatment goals, sobriety monitoring, and one-year follow-up. Donors make it possible for families to heal together—and be recognized on the Bluestem Donor Wall with opportunities to tour the campus and engage with Savio’s leadership.

This campaign matters now because parental substance misuse is a leading driver of family separation, and separation and chronic instability can have lasting impacts on children’s mental health. Nationally, approximately 40% of child maltreatment cases involve parental substance misuse, and in 2024 substance misuse was a factor in 38.2% of child removals.

In Colorado, the urgency is especially clear: substance use is present in 72% of child protection cases that resulted in removal from the home in Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties. Yet family-centered residential treatment capacity does not match the need—no programs provide beds for a partner or children to accompany their father into treatment, and only a small share of programs offer residential beds for a mother’s children.

Delaying action sustains a system in which families in crisis—often experiencing homelessness or near homelessness and at imminent risk of losing their children—have no comparable option to heal together. A donor’s investment now can help close this gap by accelerating access to treatment that keeps families intact, reducing preventable removals and the downstream harm to children and communities.

In the summer of 2026, Savio launched Bluestem: an innovative, full-family treatment model where a parent recovering from substance use disorder, their partner, and their children receive care together while living in a home that is theirs. The Bluestem campus in Lakewood includes six three-bedroom townhomes and a staff building with 24/7 staffing, intentionally designed to be trauma-informed and home-like rather than institutional.

Bluestem will make it possible to treat substance use, trauma, and family relationships as an integrated whole. While parents receive substance use disorder treatment through Mile High Behavioral Health, Savio therapists will deliver trauma-informed mental health services to children in the home, aligned with Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). The program also unlocks pathways to long-term stability by pairing treatment with essential supports and workforce development through Innovate + Educate, helping families build routines, financial stability, and a sustainable transition back to the community with a year of aftercare.

There is a clear funding gap between the amount that counties are able and willing to bill for this program, and the cost for families to reside in this program for a year. Currently, the funding gap for families in the Bluestem Program is $50,000 per year.

However, the Bluestem program will reduce long-term placements out of the home for children and families and reducing long-term placements is the best way to save money for the Child Welfare System.

“Darren” was removed from his family home and placed in foster care at the age of five due to his mother’s substance use and resulting neglect. He was placed in multiple foster homes and never found the stability that children need leading to long-term mental health problems. He was placed in residential facilities and admitted to a psychiatric hospital several times. He eventually ended up in juvenile detention. Unfortunately, these are common among children who are involved in child welfare for lengthy periods of time. One study showed that more than 90% of youth in foster care with five or more placements will become involved in the juvenile justice system.

Between the ages of five and sixteen, the direct costs to house and treat Darren were more than $1.1 million. This is a real-life example of one of the 5% of child welfare cases that make up 40% of the system’s expenses.

While the funding gap for the Bluestem program is $50,000 per year, this is substantially less than the amount that it would cost for these children to remain in the system throughout their lives.

Over the next two years, the Bluestem Program will enroll 9 families and serve approximately 20-25 children. Savio will complete 30 mental health assessments and develop 30 individualized treatment plans for families enrolled in the program. In addition, all 9 families will receive basic needs support—including groceries, childcare assistance, and transportation support—to reduce barriers to participation and engagement.

Savio will track outcomes through families’ progress toward individualized treatment goals, which measure improvements in child and family well-being across behavioral health, parenting, family functioning, and stability. A successful outcome is defined as the family reaching at least 80% of individualized treatment goals, the child remaining in or being reunited with their home, and no higher-level intervention being required. Sobriety will be monitored through drug testing and ongoing clinical assessment as part of each parent’s treatment plan, and Savio will follow up one year after discharge to assess long-term impact and sustainability of outcomes.

All donors over $5,000 will be named to our Bluestem Donor Wall, featured on the Bluestem Campus to highlight those who have made this program possible. All donors will receive personalized outreach from our Development teams, a tour of the Bluestem Program to directly see their impact, and invitations for coffee to learn more about Savio. Donors over $15,000 will also receive outreach from executive leadership.