The family of a sibling group contacted the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman, or CPO, office concerned for the children. These children have been living with their mother who is suffering from mental health issues and is suspected of using illegal substances. The family’s concern is that the children are being abused by the mother’s boyfriend and no one from the state has checked on the children for 13 out of the 22 months they have been living with their mother since their child welfare case was opened.
Knowing that this is a situation many of Colorado’s children and families experience, Stephanie Villafuerte, Colorado child protection ombudsman, identified critical issues facing children and families involved in these systems before the Colorado Child Welfare Interim Study Committee.
“As we look for solutions, we must think about accountability and transparency along a continuum for all of us stakeholders,” Villafuerte said. “This list is but a sampling of the issues that our agency sees. These issues are going to be vitally important to instilling confidence in our child welfare system.”
The office of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman was established in 2010 in response to the maltreatment deaths of 12 children in Colorado in 2007. The office works independently of the state. Over 1,000 cases are brought to the agency for investigation and research annually. The cases are usually brought to the agency by citizens with “a concern, frustration or question regarding the state’s child welfare system,” the agency’s report states.
The agency identified that less than half of the parents involved in the system received their required monthly face-to-face contacts with a caseworker with child welfare services. Roughly 47% of families received their monthly visit in the last five years, according to data from the Colorado Department of Human Services. This data also shows that within the last year some child welfare departments have only met 10% of this requirement with its clients. Although some departments are reaching 84% compliance.
“Caseworkers play a critical role in families’ lives by ensuring they get the care and services they need to become successful. When they are not present to provide these services, it has an impact and sometimes that impact is severe,” Villafuerte said.
Between January and May 2023, the state has recorded 8,629 state involved cases. In 2022, the state recorded 17,575 cases, according to state data. Of the 8,629 cases recorded this year, 1,762 are new with only 1,685 having exited involvement with the state.
The lack of visitations by caseworkers prevents parents from discussing key elements of their cases. This can impede a parent’s ability to do the work necessary to comply with their case requirements and can delay children returning to their parents.
Also, the lack of contact prevents caseworkers from determining if the children are safe within the home. According to the Colorado Department of Human Services, 37,702 children have been referred to the state for abuse between July 2022 and March 2023. So far the state has been able to verify 8,445 of those cases to be true.
Another problem the CPO identified was that the safety tool used by child welfare services has never been verified. The tool was adopted in 1999.
“Reviews by national and state professionals have found that the safety tool continues to be utilized inconsistently by child welfare services. The safety tool is a crucial step in assessing the initial needs of a family, the immediate safety of children and, in most cases, whether a child will be removed from their home,” the CPO report states.
The tool lends itself to subjectivity which makes it inconsistent when caseworkers are determining whether or not a child should be removed from a home or if a safety plan should be enacted.
“The impact is that a child may be removed from their caregivers without cause. Conversely, a child may not be removed from a home when valid safety concerns exist,” the CPO report states.
A large part of the issue is the lack of caseworkers which impacts the ability of welfare services to deliver services to children and families. Those who remain in the industry report “a consistent lack of support and resources as one reason this issue persists,” the report states.
The CPO would like to see state legislators create a public-facing group that would access the compliance rates of face-to-face meetings and consider alternative methods to increase those rates.
It would also like to see a third-party audit of the state’s safety tool to determine its efficacy and reliability and to consider if an alternative model would better serve Colorado’s children and families.
“Members of the committee today express concern about how we treat parents,” Villafuerte said. “One of those issues is we have to start seeing them. This is not a disparagement of county human service workers. This is a discussion about analyzing caseworkers’ bandwidth and trying to figure out how do we expand our human service worker’s ability to be in contact with families the way that they need to be.”
