Administration of Child Welfare Placement Services Follow-Up

Denver Human Services fully implemented two recommendations made in the original audit report. However, the agency only partially implemented four others and it has not addressed the risks one other recommendation had sought to resolve.

Remaining Risks

The recommendations the agency did not fully implement present several lingering risks. Among them:

• Denver Human Services updated its guidance on the kinship caregiver certification process but did not address inconsistencies in a separate certification tracking worksheet. This tracking sheet has also not been updated to reflect new tools. These inconsistencies could lead to confusion or inefficiencies in the kinship caregiver certification process.
• Although Denver Human Services has a caseworker and support staff retention plan in place, it lacks documentation of the best practices used to develop the plan and could not provide details on how retention strategies were assessed before developing the plan. These gaps could leave the agency without a fully effective strategy to reduce turnover.
• The request for a fiscal rule waiver, intended to clarify the application of Fiscal Accountability Rule 3.2 to the imprest fund, has not been submitted. This leaves the agency without clear guidance on important requirements for the imprest fund procedures. The draft procedures for the imprest fund are incomplete and not finalized, which prevents the implementation of effective controls over imprest requests and approvals. This increases the risk of noncompliance and improper use of imprest funds.
• The agency has made progress in finalizing procedures for storage devices, but some authorization forms were incomplete or missing. This raises concerns about whether all staff with access to sensitive information are properly authorized and could result in unauthorized access to imprest funds.

Auditor's Letter

March 6, 2025

In keeping with generally accepted government auditing standards and Auditor’s Office policy, as authorized by city ordinance, we have a responsibility to monitor and follow up on audit recommendations to ensure city agencies address audit findings through appropriate corrective action and to aid us in planning future audits.

In March 2023, we audited Denver Human Services’ administration of child welfare placement services and found risks involving a lack of documented guidance for training certification staff, retaining caseworkers, and maintaining and securing the agency’s imprest fund. Denver Human Services agreed to implement all seven of our recommendations.

We recently followed up and found the agency fully implemented two recommendations, partially implemented four, and did not implement one recommendation.

Although Denver Human Services’ Child Welfare Division has made notable progress, it did not fully address all the risks associated with our original findings. Consequently, we may revisit these risk areas in future audits to ensure the city takes appropriate corrective action.

We appreciate the leaders and team members at Denver Human Services who shared their time and knowledge with us throughout the audit and the follow-up process. Please contact me at 720-913-5000 with any questions.

Denver Auditor's Office


Timothy O'Brien, CPA

AUDITOR TIMOTHY O'BRIEN, CPA
Denver Auditor

Denver Auditor's Office

201 W. Colfax Ave. #705 Denver, CO 80202
Email: auditor@denvergov.org
Call: 720-913-5000
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