Colorado lawmakers will consider an ambitious proposal this month to reduce deaths from child abuse and better protect children from abuse and neglect.
The legislation would create an independent agency – the Office of the Child’s Ombudsman – to receive and investigate complaints from relatives, guardians, foster parents and others who believe a child is not being protected from abuse or neglect.
The ombudsman would be appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, and would have power to issue subpoenas and recommend changes on individual child-protection cases or broader legislative issues.
The bill also mandates state investigations “of every unexpected death of a child under 18,” including abuse and neglect deaths, by a new child-death review panel.
The panel would consist of at least 13 people, including doctors, human services officials, the ombudsman, a citizen and a representative of the attorney general’s office.
Rep. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, the primary sponsor, said she received permission from House Speaker Lola Spradley, R-Beulah, this week to introduce a late bill on Colorado’s child protection system. Introducing legislation this late in the session requires leadership approval.
“I’m elated. I’m thrilled,” Stafford said. “I think it’s going to be a huge step forward for kids and families.”
Stafford said the bill has strong bipartisan support and will be sponsored in the Senate by Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, who chairs the committee overseeing human service agencies.
She acknowledged the legislation faces one major obstacle: money.
In a session where legislators are considering drastic cuts in existing programs, Stafford is proposing to create a new state office without state funds.
She hopes to do so by finding grants and donations that could finance the ombudsman’s office for five years. The estimated cost: $500,000 a year.
“That part is the piece where everyone’s going to say, ‘Show me the money,”‘ she said. “What will entail the success of this bill becoming law is public support. The government isn’t going to solve this.”
Stafford’s legislation grew out of proposals from a child-abuse commission she formed in response to a Denver Post series on child-abuse fatalities published earlier this year.
The Post reported that 41 percent of child-abuse and neglect deaths in the past decade had been preceded by calls to county child welfare agencies. It also reported that state investigations of those deaths had been inconsistent and done on a voluntary basis by the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Stafford said she favors an independent ombudsman’s office because too often, nobody seems to be accountable in a child protection system run by county agencies but supervised by the state.
At a child-abuse commission meeting last week, some state and county officials wondered what the system would gain from another layer of supervision.
Ted Trujillo, a state human services official, and Donald Cassata, Adams County’s social services director, distributed a list of 19 “child welfare accountability mechanisms” already in place, from guardians and child protection teams to state fatality reviews and audits.
Roxane White, Denver’s human services manager, questioned a statement in the draft bill that “the child welfare system lacks oversight and accountability with respect to abused and neglected children.”
That “feels very accusatory,” she said.
Stafford said minor changes may be made in the bill before it is introduced in the House.
David Furman, a Denver magistrate who helped write the bill, said the child-death review panel provisions are based on recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Colorado does not have a state law requiring investigations of child deaths. The new panel would look at deaths linked to abuse and neglect, as well as deaths from unexpected causes such as sudden infant death syndrome or gun accidents.
The bill does not give the ombudsman’s office authority to enforce its recommendations.
But Furman said the office would wield considerable powers of persuasion.
“I think if people hear from an independent state entity that there’s a problem, people will fix it,” he said.
