The failure rate for adoptions of Colorado’s foster children has not improved in recent years, according to a Colorado Sun analysis of state data.
Almost 10% of adoptions each year are called off, before or after they are finalized in court. There were 263 children and teenagers who were returned to the child welfare system from 2022-25 after their adoptions fell apart.
The top reason, according to state data, was the child’s behavior problem.
The 9.7% failed adoption rate in the most recent four-year period was about the same as in the previous four years. The rate hasn’t budged as the state has cut back on the number of kids who enter foster care in the first place, which has resulted in fewer adoptions, and as some efforts to help the hardest-to-place foster children and teens have fallen due to budget cuts.
A 2024 law that allowed relatives, friends and neighbors of foster kids to receive financial support without going through extensive training like other foster parents boosted “kinship” placements almost immediately. But in this year’s budget crisis, the legislature eliminated funding for what are called “non-certified kinship” homes, saving $5.5 million in state funds.
Another bill passed this year saved the state about $4 million this year and $9 million next year by capping the support payments adoptive families receive to pay for care for children they have adopted. The “adoption assistance program” was limited to 50% of foster care rates for children under 9 and to 60% of foster care rates for teens 14 and older. The capped amounts are now $21 per day for young children and $39 for teens.
The 10% broken adoption rate in Colorado the past four years is slightly better than the 13% rate for the 10-year period from 2012-2021, which The Colorado Sun analyzed during an investigative series published in 2022.
The Sun found that in those 10 years, 1,094 kids had been failed twice, ending up back in foster care after their adoptions fell apart. It was the first time the state had released data on “disrupted” and “dissolved” adoptions, following a request from The Sun under the Colorado Open Records Act.
The Sun recently filed a similar request for this follow-up report.
An adoption is considered disrupted when the child reenters foster care after the adoption has been finalized, or when a child is placed in an adoptive home and the adoption proceedings are called off before the adoption is finalized.
An adoption is dissolved when the adoptive parents legally sever ties with their adopted child in court. The child goes into foster care and can be adopted by someone else.
Colorado Department of Human Services officials said the state agency is working to increase adoption success rates in part by adding questions to the three-year post-adoption reviews they send parents in order to find out more about what kind of support families need.
“It is challenging to get a full picture of why adoptions are disrupted as we don’t have detailed data on various complex variables that could potentially impact the process,” Joseph Homlar, division director of child welfare, said via email, noting that adoptions break up because of conflict with sibling groups, children with complex medical or behavioral health needs, and families living in areas without enough local resources.
Adoptions of foster kids in Colorado have declined in recent years in part because fewer kids are being removed from their homes and placed in foster care, in this state and nationwide. Also, more relatives have stepped in to take children, and they often choose to become legal guardians instead of the more permanent outcome of adoption, Homlar said.
In September, there were 301 children and teens legally available for adoption in Colorado, the lowest number in years and down from the 369 children legally available for adoption in September 2024.
Homlar acknowledged this year’s budget cuts would affect children but said “more time is needed to determine just how impactful this will be to families adopting from the child welfare system.”