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Colorado task force aims to ‘be bold’ in evaluation of child abuse reporting law

The Mandatory Reporting Task Force held its second meeting Wednesday, and delved deeper into its assessment of Colorado’s child abuse reporting law.
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A Colorado task force that’s evaluating the state’s child abuse reporting law held its second meeting Wednesday, and further assessed the law’s impact on our state.

The Mandatory Reporting Task Force was created by lawmakers in 2022 after the death of Olivia Gant, a 7-year-old who died of medical abuse. The girl’s mother pretended the child was terminally ill, and while medical staff suspected the abuse, they didn’t report it.

The task force includes 32 representatives from nonprofit organizations, government agencies, parent groups, schools, associations, medical centers and law enforcement agencies.

“Everybody expressed a desire to be bold — to be innovative, and I thought that was really exciting,” Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman Stephanie Villafuerte said during Wednesday’s meeting.

The group held its first meeting in early December, hosted by the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman.

The second task force meeting on Wednesday included a discussion of the child welfare system’s racial disproportionality. 

“In Colorado, Black children are the focus of calls to the child abuse hotline 1.27 times more than their percentage of the population,” said Doris Tolliver, a senior consultant at the research firm Health Management Associates. “Conversely, white children are underreported to hotlines when you look at their share of the state population, at about 0.64%.”

Children of color are reported at higher rates not because they are abused more often, but because more reports are made about the children, Villafuerte said. In some cases, family members who can’t afford to provide food or housing for their children are being reported for abuse, she explained.

“At the end of the day, we want to make sure that our laws around reporting are effective in protecting children, effective in getting families the support they need and effective in providing mandatory reporters with the guidance and tools they need to properly identify and report child abuse,” Villafuerte said.

Mandatory reporters include teachers, doctors, nurses and dozens of other professionals who work with children. The public can make reports through the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline.

The task force is scheduled to meet 11 more times over the next two years. A final report of recommendations and findings will then be submitted to the Colorado General Assembly, Gov. Jared Polis’ office and the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The next task force meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled for April 5.


Amber Fisher

About the Author: Amber Fisher

I'm thrilled to be an assistant editor with the Longmont Leader after spending the past decade reporting for news outlets across North America. When I'm not writing, you can find me snowboarding, reading fiction and running (poorly).
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