An increase in parental terminations has already been seen in other counties.
The Colorado Department of Human Services and the state judicial department are required to issue a report to the legislature every year to show how EPP is working statewide. In the 1998/1999 fiscal year, the 33 counties that had already implemented EPP provided the state with statistics on 443 children who had been in the system for a year; 80 percent of those kids had been placed in permanent homes within twelve months.
Michael Miller
Adoree Blair (above) has fostered 35 children in thirteen years; Ellen Toomey-Hale (below, left) and Shari Shink work for the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center.Representative Maryanne "Moe" Keller sponsored legislation to change the system.Karen Ashby is the presiding judge in Denver Juvenile Court.
Anthony Camera
Adoree Blair has fostered 35 children in thirteen years.
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Of those, only 32 percent returned to the home from which they were removed, down from 36 percent the year before. A third were were placed in an adoptive home, and nearly all the rest were placed with another relative.
"There may not be any significant increase in the number of terminations -- it may just appear to be because they're occurring in shorter time frames," says Carol Kelly, permanency planning program specialist for the CDHS. "Prior to EPP, terminations sometimes took three years rather than a year, so it may just feel like there are more."
In the cases in which kids were not placed in permanent homes within a year, the main reason for the delay was that parents were given additional time to complete their treatment plans; the second most common reason that 20 percent of kids weren't in permanent homes in twelve months was that relatives were still being explored as possible caretakers. A study of Jefferson and Boulder Counties -- the first two to implement EPP -- showed that before EPP, only 60 percent of kids were placed in permanent homes within twelve months.
At the June 12, 2000, termination hearing, the DDHS requested a continuance because Ben and Rebecca's caseworker had taken a medical leave. The hearing was rescheduled for July, at which time George's attorney and the DDHS realized that George's relatives had never been contacted as possible caregivers; his parents had just come forward and said they were interested in taking in their grandchildren. The judge continued the termination hearing again, this time until October 24, to give the DDHS time to investigate the grandparents' home and to hold a family-group conference. George's parents were also granted visitation time with Ben and Rebecca.
But when October 24 arrived, the caseworkers explained that because they had been so overworked, they were unable to hold the family-group conference until the day before the hearing. They also said they hadn't had a chance to investigate the grandparents' home. The judge continued the termination hearing to November 15.
Two weeks into EPP in Denver, Liguori had already noticed results; out of the six EPP cases the department handled in early November, permanent placements had been decided on for four kids -- they'll be living with relatives. But she says that sampling is too small to draw any conclusions from; it will be a long time before real results are known. The department will be tracking the outcomes of EPP cases in May, six months after it took effect in Denver; a year later, in November; and then again in November 2002.
Shink says if permanent homes are found for kids in 80 percent of Denver's cases, it will be a success. Other laws and state supreme court directives have been issued in the past to encourage speedier resolutions, she says, but judges have largely ignored them. What makes EPP different, Shink explains, is that now that the court and the human-services department are receiving state money specifically for expediting cases, they'll be held accountable.
Everyone in the many-layered child welfare system -- judges, social workers, attorneys, child advocates, therapists and families -- is betting on this, hoping it fixes what has been broken for too long. "It's a time of either real hope and real possibility or a little step back," says the DDHS's Donna Good. "We just don't know yet."
Adoree Blair keeps a framed photograph of Sarah and her parents in her living room as a reminder of how important the law is. The portrait was taken just before Sarah was returned to her parents. In it, her parents are seated at an angle, looking off to the right. But Sarah, dolled up in a frilly red velvet dress, is staring straight into the camera. She is not smiling, and her eyes hold the look of fear they did so many months before, when she first entered the Blair home.
"EPP was a kind of apology to Sarah, since we couldn't save her," Blair says. "Because of EPP, maybe other babies won't have to go through what she did."
By the November 15 court hearing, the DDHS caseworkers had finally approved the paternal grandparents' home and said they wanted to move Ben and Rebecca there as soon as possible. The judge agreed, and Ben and Rebecca are now living with their grandparents, where they will likely remain. Because the children were placed with relatives, the court won't terminate George and Lisa's parental rights, but it may grant the grandparents permanent parental responsibilities, meaning they won't be able to adopt Ben and Rebecca but will have the decision-making authority of parents.
The judge also said that Lisa and George can have supervised visits with their children once they've completed their treatment plans. So far, neither parent has.
