DENVER—Colorado’s child welfare system is out of compliance with federal regulations on child safety and well-being, according to a review released Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The review found Colorado did not meet standards for abuse in home care and placement stability. The state is also not in compliance with standards measuring child safety and well being.
Gov. Bill Ritter created a task force following a state investigation into the deaths of 13 children whose families had previous contact with social workers. State officials said there is no way to know if those were among the 65 cases reviewed by the federal government for its report, but they said the report was a wake-up call for reform.
“The results of the review are pretty sobering,” said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services.
The review also noted significant themes in Colorado’s overall performance: lack of consistency, lack of service accessibility, and lack of accountability.
Karen L. Beye, executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, said the review demonstrates that the state needs to greatly improve its system of protecting vulnerable children.
“The results of the review reinforce Governor Ritter’s decision to create the Child Welfare Action Committee in 2008 and initiate comprehensive reform in Colorado’s child welfare system. Geography should not determine the availability of quality services for children and families,” she said.
The department said it has already started work on a plan to address those areas that need improvement, including the implementation of 27 of the 29 recommendations made by the Child Welfare Action Committee. The report will be provided to the federal government by the end of this year.
The other two recommendations are on hold after counties balked at recommendations for the state to take over social services.
Ritter created the task force following a state investigation into the deaths of 13 children whose families had previous contact with social workers.
The investigation found that training of social workers was inadequate and communications problems occur between county social workers and the state human services department.
Under the current system, social services are administered by counties and supervised by the state.
The report recommended establishing a centralized call system for reporting suspected abuse and neglect, the creation of a child advocate office, requiring counties to provide feedback to mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, and stricter timeframes for providing services to families that move to different jurisdictions.
The report also recommended that the state regionalize 53 of the state’s 64 counties to streamline and improve services.
