Training Specialist
John Niedfeldt joined the Butler Institute for Families in June 2012. He began work as a child protection caseworker for Chaffee County in 1978, gaining experience and learning child welfare from the ground up. Mr. Niedfeldt has experience in all facets of child welfare casework, including child protection, youth in conflict, daycare licensing and services for working parents, foster home certification and training, and adoptions in both Chaffee and Gunnison Counties. In 1991, Mr. Niedfeldt joined Colorado’s Administrative Review Division (ARD). He was one of the original 22 reviewers hired in what was a new and innovative program in the state of Colorado, reviewing foster placement cases and core services cases in over 22 counties. With a desire to return to direct services, Mr. Niedfeldt left ARD in 2000 and went back to county child welfare as the manager of the casework unit in Chaffee County, involving all facets of both child and adult protection services.
Mr. Niedfeldt brings a wealth of experience in developing collaborative relationships in rural areas to serve the needs of children at risk, including initiating the development of human service councils in Montrose and Gunnison Counties, being part of the establishment of a HB1451 collaborative group in Chaffee County, development of and maximization of efforts of child protection teams, and the establishment of a working group of rural county supervisors, as well as training in and utilization of various forms of family engagement techniques. He has provided training for foster parents, mandatory reporters, caseworkers, and daycare providers. Mr. Niedfeldt has a BS in Psychology and Sociology from Carroll College in Waukesha Wisconsin.
