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The department said it didn’t find a pattern of systemic bias in its investigation of alleged violations in Washington County.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Colo. — The Colorado Department of Human Services has finished a review of Washington County’s child welfare services department after questions were raised about fairness and bias.
In June, Colorado’s child protection ombudsman, Stephanie Villaforte, asked the department to review all the child welfare cases in Washington County between 2018 and 2022. This was after Villaforte said her department received eight complaints that involved six families and 10 children.
The department said that while they did find some violations of policy, they “did not find in its review a pattern of decision-making or practice indicative of systematic bias against parents.”
9NEWS began investigating the department in March, when a couple said that it took years of fighting to get their son returned to them.
Alicia Johansen and her partner Fred Thornton lost custody of their son Carter when he was born due to drug use.
Johansen and Thornton got clean and followed a treatment plan from the court that included staying sober, obtaining stable employment and attempting scheduled visitations with Carter. It took three years, six months and 17 days for Carter to be returned to his parent’s care.
“We operated for so long under the assumption that if we just did as we were told, everything would be fine,” Johansen said.
They were one of the six families that filed a complaint with Villafuerte.
When Villafuerte’s office reviewed the six cases, it identified 64 potential violations of state regulation and law. These include failure to assess child safety, failure to communicate with parents and failure to keep children with family when possible.
The Colorado Department of Human Services reviewed all 64 allegations and said that it “has not identified the need for corrective action or further review related to systematic bias in casework.”
The department said in a statement that over the past six months, it investigated the claims, provided training, conducted multiple site visits and did not “identify any pervasive practice issues.”
Villafuerte said she disagrees.
“Parents were not being treated respectfully,” she said. “They were not being treated professionally, and in many instances they weren’t being given the services they needed to to reunite with their children.”
She also said that she is concerned about the way the state conducted this internal investigation.
“They did not interview a single parent, family member, community stakeholder, or even a youth in this instance,” Villafuerte said. “I don’t see how one can evaluate whether there is systemic bias without interviewing the very people who have been impacted.”
Most importantly, Villafuerte said the state’s child welfare system should do better.
“We are required by law to give families the tools and the resources they need so that they can reunite with their children in a safe way,” she said. “When we fail to give them those services or we delay in giving them those services, we delay child parent reunification, which means that you will have children languishing in foster care for months, if not years.”
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