Children and teens in foster care are getting new, extremely detailed rights under Colorado law — everything from the right to have shampoo, to using their preferred pronouns, to not being forced to carry heavy rocks as punishment.
A governor-appointed board is reviewing the new rules this summer that are part of the Foster Youth Bill of Rights, a law passed in 2024 after young people who spent time in the child welfare system asked for change.
The law required the state human services board to rewrite rules regarding the minute details of caring for kids in foster homes, a process now underway.
The new rules:
- Put a one-minute limit on how long a foster parent can physically restrain a child in cases of emergency, such as imminent threat of harm to themselves or others.
- State that foster children are allowed to use their preferred pronouns and that foster parents must refer to them by their preferred pronouns and names. About 30% of young people in foster homes in Colorado identify as LGBTQ.
- Mandate that foster parents allow and encourage foster children to celebrate the children’s religious or spiritual holidays. Participation in the foster parents’ religious activities or services is optional for foster children. An estimated 50% of foster families in Colorado are religious.
- Prohibit foster parents from using religious or spiritual intervention to control a child’s behavior or treat a medical condition.
- Ban physical exercise as a means of punishment. This includes running laps, doing push-ups or “carrying or stacking heavy rocks, bricks or lumber.” It also includes forcing a child to stay in a squat or put their nose to the wall or hold their hands over their head.
- Require access to toiletry items, including clean washcloths, toothpaste, shampoo and menstrual products.
- Mandate that foster children attend a school, including a homeschool or online option, that is accredited and taught by a licensed teacher.
- Prohibit seclusion or locking foster children alone in a room or building.
The human services board is expected to adopt the new rules later this summer and they would take effect in September. The law requires that children in foster care ages 5 to 21 receive a copy of the bill of rights when they enter care and when they change homes. The legislature passed the measure after hearing horror stories about the experiences of former foster children.
The board reviewed the rules last week at the same time the state child welfare system was celebrating a related milestone in foster care. For the first time, more than half of children in the foster care system last year were reunified with their biological parents.
Of the 2,736 children in foster care in 2025, 1,409 children, or 51.5%, went back to their biological parents. That compares with 38% of children returning home in 2022, according to data provided to The Colorado Sun by the state Department of Human Services.
The state has been working to improve reunification rates for years. Child welfare officials also have focused on lowering the number of children who are removed from their biological parents in the first place. That number was 3,294 four years ago, about 550 more than last year.
In many of the cases, reunification was possible after parents went through substance use treatment and achieved sobriety, state officials said.
Melissa Thompson, executive director of the Colorado’s Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, which represents parents in court, credited the “compassion, commitment and the support of a dedicated team to keep families together.”