About Us - The Crittenton Family of Agencies

Parent Pathways, Florence Crittenton School – Denver, Colorado

Our programs and services have evolved over one hundred years to continue to meet critical needs in the Denver community. The Denver Florence Crittenton Home opened in 1893 as the fifth Home that Charles Crittenton helped establish in the United States.

In the early 1980s, the services offered through the Florence Crittenton Home dramatically changed. Our community no longer had a need for a home where unwed women lived during their pregnancy and put their babies up for adoption. Instead, a school where teen mothers could receive an academic education and the parenting skills needed to raise healthy families was considered necessary. The Florence Crittenton School was created through a collaboration with Denver Public Schools. Today we provide middle and high school curriculum and offer an on-site early learning center for the babies of the teen mothers who attend our School.

The Florence Crittenton School is critically important because it creates successful futures for two generations, the teen mothers and their babies. Our teen families are less likely to depend on welfare to survive when the mother obtains a high school diploma and their children are better prepared to enter school due to the developmental emphasis in the Early Learning Center.

Parent Pathways also provides services tailored to help young fathers emotionally and financially support their children by helping them learn parenting skills, complete their education, and prepare for employment. Another service we provide is transitional housing for homeless families. This service helps young families access education and develop the skills needed to become self-sufficient.

Our supportive and dedicated staff assist each young family and client individually, helping them to develop their own pathways to stability and self-sufficiency.

Currently, Parent Pathways’ strategic goals include identifying enhancements needed to our current services for teen parents and their families. We are also working to quantify and meet the need in the Denver metropolitan area to help even more teen parents and their families create productive futures.

Programs and Services

Parent Pathways fosters the ability of teen parents to access necessary services by providing client-centered intensive case management. Our core competencies include:

• Educational services: academic, parenting, child development, health, financial;
• Employment readiness: job exploration and preparation, résumé writing, interviewing skills;
• Housing and related services: household management, life-skills.

Parent Pathways intensively serves over 550 individuals annually through all our programs:

Florence Crittenton School provides a middle school and high school academic education for pregnant and parenting teen mothers. In addition our students receive parenting and life-skills services from supportive teachers, counselors, and volunteers.

Early Learning Center enables the infants and toddlers (three weeks to three years old) of the teen mothers who attend the Florence Crittenton School to learn and explore. Our trained professionals also help the teen mothers understand and prepare for all stages of their children’s development.

Young Fathers Services encourages young fathers to have a healthy relationship with their babies and the mothers. Our case manager assists young fathers with individualized tutoring and GED support, parenting classes, and one-on-one pre-employment counseling and preparation.

Housing Services provides transitional housing for young families who receive intensive case management individualized to address the unique needs of each family. Young parents work with case managers to develop a comprehensive plan to achieve self-sufficiency.

For detailed information about this agency see:
www.parentpathways.org