HomeMy WebLinkAbout20231282.tiffApril 26, 2023
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PHONE: 970-400-4200
FAX: 970-336-7233
1150 O STREET
P.O. BOX 758
GREELEY, CO 80632
Senator Julie Gonzales, Chair
Senator Robert Rodriguez, Vice Chair
Senator Bob Gardner
Senator Dylan Roberts
Senator Kevin Van Winkle
Re: HB23-1249 Reduce Justice Involvement For Young Children
Dear Chair Gonzales, members of the Judiciary Committee, and our Weld County delegation,
On behalf of the Weld County Board of County Commissioners, we are writing to you to express opposition to HB23-1249 "Reduce
Justice -Involvement For Young Children". While we appreciate the effort to raise the age for youth who may be prosecuted for a
crime, it is our belief that HB 1249 will put unreasonable expectations on our local Collaborative Management Program, overburden
our Child Welfare system, and could have legal implications resulting from what appears to be a lack of due process. We have
outlined our concerns in detail below. We respectfully request that you consider these concerns and the negative consequences
this bill could have for our community's children, youth, and families.
Collaborative Management Program Impact
The intent of the legislation that created the Collaborative Management Program (CMP) was to encourage collaboration
among community partners working with children and youth involved in multiple systems.
Each CMP is allowed to select the area(s) of focus based on the community's unique needs, resulting in buy -in from the
required partner agencies and true collaboration as the team works to impact the children and youth served positively.
To require each CMP to serve the 10-12 population, if that is not a population they have selected to serve, goes against
the intent of the original legislation.
The CMP is a voluntary program, and it has sometimes taken years to develop the necessary relationships and
collaboration between the agencies to produce a successful CMP. Forcing agencies' participation is not good for the
agencies, and the community and is ultimately not good for the children and youth served.
The amount of funding Weld County receives for the CMP is $200,000, which is currently used to fund our CMP
Coordinator with additional services, including a restorative justice program, planned for next year. A conservative
estimate is that we would need close to double this amount in order to adequately serve the number of youth who may
be referred due to the requirements in this bill. We believe the funding recommended in the bill's fiscal note is inadequate
to meet the financial outlay required by Weld County.
Child Welfare Impact
As currently written. the bill places the responsibility of "enforcement' for youth and family compliance with the CMP
plan on Child Welfare. The purpose of the Child Welfare system is to ensure that children are safe from abuse and
neglect and not to monitor families' compliance with the CMP process.
We want children to be served by communities so that the child welfare system is utilized to serve children facing child
abuse and neglect. The new CMP process proposed in the bill could involve more families in the child welfare system,
unnecessarily adding unintended consequences and potential trauma for families with additional system intervention.
If a youth or family member is not substantially participating in the services recommended by the service and support
team, but there is no new allegation of abuse or neglect, Child Welfare would not conduct a new assessment solely to
determine whether to continue to provide prevention and intervention services. Per CRS 19-3-308 "The immediate
concern of any assessment shall be the protection of the child, and where possible, the preservation of the family." Child
Welfare may do an assessment if it is determined that the youth is "beyond the control of their parent" per CRS 19-3-
102; however, the youth not participating in voluntary services is not indicative that the youth is beyond the control of
their parent.
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2023-1282
• The State of Colorado is currently experiencing a placement crisis, particularly for high -acuity youth and teens. This bill
creates the potential for additional out -of -home placements if the Department of Fluman Services is forced to tile a D&N
if the youth and family fail to participate in the plan and services. the youth is not criminally charged and cannot receive
services through the juvenile justice system, or parents do not want the youth to remain home. The possibility of finding
a placement for a 10 -12 -year -old youth who has sexually acted out and/or violent behaviors is very limited, given that
the system already lacks adequate placement options.
Legal Concerns
As this bill is currently written, all allegations against youth ages 10-12 will he considered true. Without due process,
there is a risk that youth may be wrongfully accused of a crime, and there is no mechanism for determining if the claim
of criminal behavior is valid.
Without due process provided by the court system, it may not be possible to determine whether or not a crime has
occurred, particularly if the youth denies the allegation. This may result in e lack of services for the victim and diversion
services for the alleged offender.
Many of these same youth are currently served in the Diversion Program and are successful. If youth are instead referred
to the CMP and are not criminally charged, they may lose access to the Diversion Program and may not have access to
comparable services.
Without due process provided by law enforcement and the court system, families and youth who choose reel to participate
in the plan and proposed services are able to do so without the accountability currently available through the court system.
While we certainly do not want to see any youth involved in the juvenile justice system if there are other community -based options,
the fact is that some youth ages 10-12 commit acts of violence and sexual assault that warrant their involvement in the Juvenile
Justice system. Allowing youth who have committed such crimes to simply be referred to the CMP and partake in voluntary
services does not provide justice for the victims of such crimes, nor does it necessarily guarantee that the services and the support
the youth needs will be available within the community or that the youth will choose to participate in services if they are available.
While we appreciate the intent ofthis bill, we feel that a more prudent approach would be to review the recommendations from the
Pre -Adolescent Services Task Force, which was created to examine potential gaps in services forjuveniles who are 10-12 years of
age should the minimum age of prosecution for juveniles increase from 10 to 13.
Recommendations include:
• Expanding and better utilizing current programs and services before creating any new support systems and utilizing
evidence -based assessments that are a crucial part of the current system and the primary mechanism of how youth am
initially engaged and provided service,
• Changing or altering the current funding streams to allow for braided or blended funding to reduce or alleviate the
sometimes rigid funding structures or limitations that exist due to statutory restrictions.
It is our belief that if these recommendations were put in place first, the process of providing community -based support and services
to youth who are 10-12 years of age to prevent any involvement in the juvenile justice system would be more successful. Thank
you for carefully considering our concerns as you review this bill in committee.
Sincerely,
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Mike Freeman, Chair
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