Parental Rights in Colorado

Colorado Parental Rights News

Calls Needed NOW to Protect Innocent Families from Being Placed on Central Registry

February 13, 2023

We are pleased to support a bipartisan bill, HB 23-1160, that has been sponsored by Representative Gabe Evans and Representative Elisabeth Epps, which will establish due process protections before an innocent parent is placed on Colorado’s central registry of abuse and neglect. HB 23-1160 will greatly improve the likelihood that all Colorado families receive due…

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Colorado State Law and Parental Rights

Protected

We did it! Thanks in part to your support, Colorado law now explicitly protects parental rights.

Col. Rev. Stat. § 13-22-107(1)(a)(III):

(1)(a) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares it is the public policy of this state that: . . . (III) Parents have a fundamental right and responsibility to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children. The law has long presumed that parents act in the best interest of their children. . . .

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Colorado Courts and Parental Rights

Unclear

Col. Rev. Stat. § 13-22-107(1)(a)(III) expressly declares parental rights "fundamental," which may lead to strict scrutiny protection the next time the issue comes up in the courts.

  • In re Reese, 227 P.3d 900, 902-3 (Colo. Ct. App. 2010) the Colorado Court of Appeals adopted  a "rebuttable presumption" in favor of parental visitation determinations, which can be rebutted by "clear and convincing evidence that the parent is unfit or that the parent's visitation determination is not in the best interests of the child," id. at 903; the rebuttable presumption is employed because Troxel did not "state how the presumption affects the proof process or how courts must accord special weight to it," id. at 902.