The operators of Colorado’s youth residential treatment centers, where children with the most acute mental health struggles go to recover, have warned for years that the system could fall apart without more funding. There are signs it’s happening now. Suicidal kids are waiting weeks, sometimes months, in hospital emergency rooms for a bed at a […]
Running Out of Options
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Advocates to push for overhaul of Colorado’s youth residential centers — and they’re looking to Florida for help
A group of child protection advocates including the state ombudsman and a lawmaker will push for a massive overhaul of Colorado’s residential centers for kids in foster care or with severe mental health issues. They’ve set their sights on copying a Florida law that revamped the way centers in that state are evaluated to make […]
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado county leaders blast state officials over mental health, claim 69 foster kids are missing
The state system that treats children with severe mental health issues is so stretched that it’s become dangerous, Colorado’s county human services directors charged in a fiery letter to state officials. Previous efforts have failed to “shift the course of the emergency,” wrote the leaders of the Colorado Human Services Directors Association and Colorado Counties […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Class-action lawsuit alleges Colorado is failing at children’s mental health care
Colorado has lapsed on its obligation to provide mental health care for needy children, leaving them to cycle in and out of emergency rooms instead of receiving appropriate long-term care, according to a federal class-action lawsuit filed against the state Medicaid program. The lawsuit so far includes three anonymous plaintiffs, all teenagers who have for […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s child protection ombudsman announces new program to review child deaths
The death of a 12-year-old boy who was struck by a vehicle after he ran away from a youth treatment center will be the first child fatality reviewed under a new system announced Thursday by the state’s child protection ombudsman. Ombudsman Stephanie Villafuerte said she intends to fill the gap left by other child fatality […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Colorado hires private investigators to find teens who went missing when the state abruptly closed a youth center
When state child welfare officials arrived at a now-closed youth center to collect teenagers and send them to other placements, surprised kids scattered into the fields surrounding the residential facility in Watkins. A month later, two teenage boys are still missing. And in the aftermath of what critics are calling a botched operation to abruptly […]
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
Colorado may toughen probes into institutional child abuse claims following Colorado Sun/9News investigation
A state child welfare committee will consider changing the way allegations of institutional abuse are investigated at residential centers for troubled kids, following news reports about a chronic runaway problem that resulted in two deaths. Two state lawmakers, meanwhile, are vowing to strengthen mental health treatment for children and compel the state child welfare division […]
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.