Ensuring safety for Colorado’s children today and envisioning a stronger child protection system for the future.

Services for Youth

Are you living in a Division of Youth Services’ youth center or an out-of-home placement and have questions or concerns?

What We Do

As an independent agency we work on behalf of Colorado’s children and families. We listen to the public about their experience with and concerns about child protection, research and investigate those issues, and determine the best way to resolve each inquiry. Our work also allows us to collaborate with lawmakers, professionals and other stakeholders to advance legislation and policies that will have a lasting, positive impact on our children and families

How We Work for Colorado

Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman was created to ensure the state’s complex child protection system consistently provides high quality services to every child, family and community in Colorado.

Listen

We listen to people about their experience with and concerns about child protection.

Investigate

We research and investigate concerns reported by any Coloradan about service delivery within the child protection system.

Resolve

We determine the best way to resolve concerns – that might mean bridging communication barriers or resolving conflicts based on misunderstanding.

Identify Trends

We identify trends where the community’s needs have changed and the system hasn’t had the funding, resources or practices to keep up with it. As a result, we make public recommendations for system improvement.

Lasting Change

We convene lawmakers, professionals and other stakeholders to advance legislation and policies that have a lasting, positive impact on children and families.

calls from concerned Coloradans since our inception

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Our Impact

Our work plays an important role in increasing collaboration within the system, identifying opportunities for improvement and advocating for the policies, funding and resources professionals need to best serve children and families.

Public Policy Center

As an independent state agency, the CPO is charged with studying and improving the systems tasked with protecting Colorado’s children and with helping citizens navigate these systems.

To better answer and address these questions, the CPO launched the Public Policy Advancement Center. The Policy Advancement Center will house the agency’s systemic projects. These projects include multidisciplinary task forces, stakeholder groups and discussions to address of some of systemic and complex issues impacting the child protection system in Colorado.

Colorado Task Force Releases Groundbreaking Recommendations to Prevent Youth from Running Away from Out-of-Home Care

October 1, 2024

Members of a task force created by the Colorado General Assembly believe Colorado can be a national leader when it comes to how it prevents and finds youth who run away from placement in foster care and residential treatment facilities. In its final report, The Timothy Montoya Task Force to Prevent Children from Running Away from Out-Of-Home Placement outlines a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the systemic issues that contribute to youth running away from foster care and residential ...

Mandatory Reporting Task Force Resource Guide

September 23, 2024

A mandatory reporter is a person who is required by state law to make a report of child abuse and/or neglect if they suspect it may be occurring. Most states require people with certain occupations – such as doctors or teachers – to be mandatory reporters, and some states have placed this requirement on all adults. In recent years many families, community groups, advocates, and lawmakers have called attention to issues with mandatory reporting policies in Colorado. Many have brought a greater ...

FAQs

Who can contact the CPO?

Anyone who has concerns regarding Colorado’s child protection system. We often hear from parents, grandparents, foster parents, attorneys, child protection professionals, mental health providers and medical professionals, and youth in foster care or the Division of Youth Services.

What should I contact you about?

The CPO is charged with hearing the public’s complaints related to services administered by any public agency or provider that receives public money to support the safety, permanency or well-being of children. We also help Coloradans navigate the complex child protection system and connect them with resources.

What happens after I contact you?

The CPO will contact you regarding your complaint within 48 business hours of receiving a message. We will research your complaint – this may include reviewing records we have independent access to that are not otherwise available to the public. We may also contact relevant agencies. Once the case is closed, we will contact you.