Today the Senate Health and Human Services committee passed Senator Linda Newell’s (D-Littleton) bill to reform Colorado’s child protection system. The bill (SB 171) creates an independent advocate to help protect children through impartial oversight and to provide accountability of the child welfare system. Currently, 29 other states have created an Ombudsman office to oversee child protection.
The committee heard testimony from Mary Ann Hartman, the neighbor of Alize Vick, the child who died while in foster care. Mary Ann heard signs of child abuse over her baby monitor and reported it to county officials. Though she begged the officials responsible for protecting Alize to do so, no action was taken to rescue her from her abusive foster mother. Mary Ann told the committee that if Colorado had an Ombudsman at the time, Alize would not have fallen through the cracks. Sen. Newell told the committee, “In the past three years, Colorado has seen over thirasses-major-child-protection-reform-billty childhood abuse and neglect related deaths under our care. How many kids have to die before we take action?
Today, we need to make a stand for those who are too young to stand up for themselves.” The office will be an outlet for citizens to report suspected child abuse and potential gaps or problems in the child protection system. The committee also heard testimony from state and county officials, child protection advocates, and members of the Governor’s Child Welfare Action Committee. Sen. Newell added, “We have companies and non-profits waiting in the wings to contribute to this office – making sure it will happen.
Ensuring the protection of our children is a critical role of government, but to do so, we need to recreate confidence and trust in the system. This bill has great bipartisan support because we all want to protect our kids. It is about health and wellbeing of children.” The committee passed the bill unanimously (7-0). The bill will now be heard by the Senate Appropriations committee.
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