One young woman who aged out of foster care was about to have her phone service cut off for not paying the bill. A teenage boy living in a homeless shelter while waiting for a foster placement reached out because he was lonely and hungry. And a mother who was fighting to get her children […]
foster kids
Posted inNews
The number of LGBTQ foster kids is on the rise, but does Colorado have enough accepting homes?
Diamond Kobylinski spent almost his entire childhood in foster homes, from age 2 to 17. The worst, though, was when one set of foster parents changed their mind about adopting him after Kobylinski blurted out during an argument that he was gay. It was the first time Kobylinski had ever said the words out loud. […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government, Social Services
Bill aims to prevent runaways, improve mental health results for Colorado foster youth at residential centers
Colorado would have to create new standards for residential centers that house foster children as well as examine how best to prevent kids from running away from those centers under a new legislative proposal. The bill follows high-profile scrutiny of the 24/7 residential centers, including a joint Colorado Sun/9News investigation that found that children and […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, Equity, News
“We are their parent”: Proposal calls for free college tuition for Colorado children in foster care
Charis Glatthar became a foster kid at age 14, then lived in 14 homes in four years. She lost track of how many schools she attended. When Glatthar aged out of the child welfare system, she hoped she could go to college, but had no money and no clue about how to apply for financial […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government, Social Services
Hundreds of Colorado children are awaiting adoption. State officials are asking for new funding to find them homes.
The list of foster children who legally belong to the state of Colorado has 533 names. Among them is a 15-year-old girl who has lived in 26 places since she went into foster care and became available for adoption at age 10. Another is a 19-year-old man who has spent 226 months – more than […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
It’s now illegal in Colorado to send kids to lockup for non-serious crimes. But what if they can’t go home?
District attorneys across the state say Colorado has failed to provide housing for kids who cannot return home after they’ve been arrested either because they don’t have families or it’s unsafe for them to go home. State law gives the Department of Human Services authority to provide shelter beds for kids if they have no […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
A federal deadline for Colorado to redesign its child welfare system has arrived
A decade ago, 1,257 foster kids in Colorado were living in group homes and institutions, the kind of places where children and teens line up for medication and eat at appointed meal times in a cafeteria. That number now has dropped to 339, a joyful statistic that means hundreds of kids are instead living in […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, News, Politics and Government
Colorado shuts down youth center in Watkins after allegations of drugs, fights and improper restraints of kids
State officials moved to shut down a residential treatment center for troubled kids and teens Thursday, arriving on campus after a high school graduation ceremony and moving children to other placements. Ridge View Youth Services Center, where kids attend an on-campus charter school and receive intense treatment for behavioral health, was informed that its contract […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado child welfare panel begins work on preventing abuse at residential youth centers
A panel of child welfare experts began the process Tuesday of strengthening Colorado regulations to better protect kids living in round-the-clock treatment centers for foster youth and children with severe mental health issues. The group, formed after a recent Colorado Sun/9 News investigation into runaways and lax supervision at residential facilities, will make recommendations about […]
Posted inSun Investigation
Families kept in the dark about children’s safety in Colorado’s child welfare system
Colorado’s child fatality review team did not investigate the death of a 12-year-old boy who ran away from a residential center. State officials refuse to release numbers of abuse allegations.