There are not many organizations that provide critical support to children who have witnessed or have been physically, mentally and sexually abused in Colorado’s central mountains. One of the few in Colorado’s High Country is at risk of going under.
TreeTop Child Advocacy Center serves victims and their families in Colorado’s 5th Judicial District — Summit, Eagle, Lake and Clear Creek counties — by partnering with investigating agencies such as law enforcement and Child Protective Services.
It provides a safe space and forensic interviewer for children to recount their abuse with the goal of having a single interview for the entire investigation, which spares the child from having to relive their trauma over and over to different agencies. Since its inception in 2017, it has conducted 490 interviews with child victims.
“If a child is sexually assaulted, they generally have to go to the hospital, they have to deal with the police station, and maybe they have to deal with Child Protective Services,” said TreeTop executive director Amy Oliveira. “Rather than having them repeat their story over and over, they come to us and meet with the forensic interviewer.”
Staff at the nonprofit said Colorado’s 5th Judicial District could lose this service if funding doesn’t come in soon. TreeTops’ treasurer Dave Byrd said the nonprofit needs a minimum of $250,000 in the next year just to keep its doors open.
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The funding issues stems from the fact that not many government grants exist to support organizations that do this type of work. TreeTop relies nearly entirely on federal funding from the Victims of Crime Act, or the VOCA fund. TreeTop was recently notified that the VOCA fund is going to be cut in half in 2025.
The organization is struggling to stay afloat with the approximate $300,000 it gets in federal funding, according to Oliveira. Oliveira fears by the time 2025 rolls around a lack of funding may cause the organization to sink.
Oliveira said the organization doesn’t want to be in a place where they have just enough funding to be operational since its staff has aspirations to expand services and provide even more help to more people.
She embarked into the children’s advocacy field in 2019 and said she was in shock by the amount of need there was in the area. In her first three months, she watched her organization serve around 28 children.
For Oliveira, a former probation officer who dealt with domestic violence and was accustomed to working with horrific cases, working in children’s advocacy was a whole different ball game.
She found herself working with school-age children who were sexually assaulted, sometimes by a family member, and kids who had witnessed extremely violent crimes.
In the four years Oliveira has worked in this field, she said the need persisted. In 2023 Treetop served 76 child victims and 141 secondary victims — or caregivers, parents and siblings of victims.
“Many times that could the sibling of the victim and the mom or whomever the caregiver is — and so we also serve those family members,” Oliveira said.
Beyond the investigation, TreeTop also provides an advocate to accompany children in court, connects families with trauma-informed resources and services and works with other nonprofits to refer families to resources related to housing and health. It also helps navigate restraining orders.
Oliveira said she’s visited other similar organizations that have both a mental health professional and a medical professional on staff, and that’s something she hopes Treetop can grow into.
Currently these aspirations seem far fetched considering the organization needs $250,000 just to stay open.
If this organization closes, children who fall victim to abuse in Colorado’s 5th Judicial Districtwill lose this service.
“It feels like we’re starting from scratch,” Oliveira said. “Right now, we need funding in order to stay open so that a child can actually just come and speak of their abuse and work on the healing process.”
TreeTop is hosting a fundraiser April 28 at the Elks Lodge in Silverthorne, located at 1321 Blue River Parkway, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
For more information about TreeTop visit their site at TreeTopCenter.org.
