Colorado Office of the Child’s Representative
Colorado’s Office of the Child’s Representative (OCR) is thrilled to be concentrating its efforts on supporting effective implementation of recent legislation aimed to enhance youth rights, including two landmark bills enacting client-directed representation for youth 12 and older in dependency proceedings and a right for all youth to fully participate in those proceedings (HB 22-1038) and establishing enforceable rights for children and youth in foster care (HB 24-1017). While the legislative journeys of these two bills and the role of OCR’s Lived Experts Action Panel (LEAP) and other young people with lived experience in informing, championing, and advancing these pieces of legislation are stories in themselves, OCR firmly believes that the passage of these bills must be just the beginning of the story for Colorado’s children and youth and that its attorneys play a central role in ensuring that this legislation transcends from ink on paper to a reality for the children and youth they represent.
Two years after the enactment of HB22-1038, OCR continues to support attorneys in providing truly client-directed representation through its training program, case staffings, and other resources and litigation support. In addition to spearheading this legislation, OCR worked with Colorado’s Chief Justice to update its attorney practice standards (contained in Chief Justice Directive 04-06 ) to reflect the new model of representation. The OCR used these updates as an opportunity to enhance its youth contact standards for all attorneys (children under 12 are represented by an attorney Guardian ad Litem) to reflect updated NACC recommendations and LEAP’s feedback regarding attorney contact. In addition to a longstanding “initial visit” report OCR routinely runs on all attorneys to ensure timely in-placement contact with children and youth, OCR developed a “youth contact” report in its billing and case management system that allows OCR to now assess the amount and frequency of ongoing contact with children and youth for each attorney type. This report includes contact with multidisciplinary legal team members, allowing OCR to analyze how attorneys use members of their legal team to maintain contact with children and youth. Preliminary reports show greater and more frequent contact with youth 12 and older represented by a client-directed Counsel for Youth. OCR also monitors youth attendance in court through a “youth in court report.” Since the enactment of HB 22-1038, the rate of youth participation in permanency, benchmark, and review hearings for youth 12 and over has increased from 20% of hearings (prior to effective date of legislation) to 32% in state Fiscal Year 2023-24.
HB24-1017, which establishes clearly enforceable rights for youth in foster care or participating in Colorado’s Foster Youth in Transition Program, went into effect August 7, 2024. OCR’s LEAP, along with several other lived experts, have been instrumental in OCR’s implementation of this legislation. To date, OCR, with LEAP’s input and participation, has developed a notice form, an interactive website providing young people with information about their rights (inspired by the website of another FJI member, East Bay Children’s Law Offices!), and a draft motion for attorneys to use in their litigation. LEAP members, in concert with OCR, are training OCR attorneys, judicial officers, and other community partners on the importance and enforcement of these rights, and in the upcoming months, OCR will be developing in-depth training on each category of rights, accessible through an interactive online learning platform.
OCR is grateful to be a part of the FJI community and comes away from each meeting with ideas and inspiration.