Finally, the legislature is seeking a way to fix the child protection ombudsman operating within the Colorado Department of Human Services — the agency it is charged with investigating.
This has been smart creation of the ombudsman position, which is charged with looking into complaints and concerns about how the child protection system works.
For the ombudsman to be truly effective, the office must be autonomous and independent from DHS. In no way should the office be under the department’s organizational structure.
Senate Bill 204 provides a good solution — placing the child watchdog under the legislative branch but with oversight from a 15-member board made up of people appointed by the judicial, executive and legislative branches.
This was also the recommendation from the majority of a task force that met for months on improving the ombudsman program.
Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, the bill’s co-sponsor and also a task force member, said it would be similar to the structure of the state auditor’s office.
Hiring and firing would only come by a two-thirds majority of the 15-member board. The Joint Budget Committee would appropriate funding, and the office would produce a report annually for the legislature.
Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office, however, fears the move could politicize the office, creating 100 bosses for the ombudsman.
His office is pushing an amendment to keep the ombudsman under DHS but give it more autonomy through a function called a “Type 1 transfer.”
But the oversight board contemplated in SB 204 should be enough to ensure that individual lawmakers don’t interfere with or politicize the ombudsman’s work.
The goal, meanwhile, should be creating the best watchdog for kids.
Even with built-in protections, keeping the office under the agency it investigates doesn’t seem like a good idea. The better alternative is to create true independence in what was originally offered under Newell’s bill.
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