CHILD WELFARE

Positions:

Colorado’s child welfare system is a troubled system and leaves the state’s most vulnerable citizens unprotected. Too many children have died from abuse and neglect in Colorado after being in contact with state child welfare services. I support additional supervision and adequate funding to protect the children who come into the child welfare system. I believe the state needs to examine every part of the system including whether child protective services might be lodged in a better environment outside the criminal justice system, for example, in the health care system. We need to examine every alternative because the past and present results are not good enough.

Issues:

Legislation may be coming before the legislature as soon as this fall as a result of the governor’s panel which is continuing to look into the 13 deaths that occurred in the past year and the 160 that occurred in the past five years. It is one of the highest rates in the U.S. From 2000 to 2007, reports of child abuse increased by 43 percent but the number of investigations into reported abuse remained nearly flat during the same period. This suggests a lack of money, training, supervision or all three. We need to find out where the failure lies and fix it. The Governor’s Panel on Child Abuse is due to make its first report in October of this year, giving the legislature time to act in the next legislative session.

I Am Pro-Life (click here)






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