More than 250 people came together at the Capitol earlier this month to draw attention to the need to strengthen families — a time-honored tradition among advocates during National Child Abuse Prevention Month in Colorado. It is a time to recognize that we all play a role in improving the lives of children, youth and […]
child abuse and neglect
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado can save children by helping grandparents who care for their kin
Colorado’s child welfare sector is transforming to strengthen families, eventually reduce the number of children being removed from their homes because of abuse and neglect, and reallocate existing public funding streams to the benefit of children, families and Colorado taxpayers. Greater prioritization of foster or kinship placements for children whose trauma necessitates removal from […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Paid leave prevents child maltreatment: It is time to strengthen all Colorado families
Colorado prospers when our kids thrive. They are our future workforce, leaders and community members. No matter where they live in our state — the plains, mountains, rural areas or urban centers — children need high-quality support for development and every parent struggles. It is the degree to which we struggle and who we rely […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado can lead the nation in rewiring its child welfare system
Colorado, like many states, is working to overhaul its antiquated child welfare system that, despite important successes, is expensive, reactionary rather than proactive, activates too late, and regularly leaves children, families and wrongly maligned human services staff unsatisfied. This overhaul is overdue as Colorado, like the rest of the country, grapples with the cascading effects […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
In Denver child welfare cases, the father isn’t “John Doe” anymore. And now more kids facing abuse are in permanent homes.
John Doe is not the father, at least not anymore. An untold number of kids caught up in Denver’s child welfare system have had a father named John Doe, a practice that went on for decades and made it less likely for children to find permanent homes. When the dad is unknown, so is an […]