{"id":483,"date":"2026-06-08T11:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2026-06-08T11:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:33:22","slug":"hundreds-of-calls-to-colorado-child-abuse-hotline-from-youth-treatment-centers-go-uninvestigated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of calls to Colorado child abuse hotline from youth treatment centers go uninvestigated"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Teens, children and staff at youth treatment centers in Colorado called the state child abuse hotline 1,154 times in the past five years to report injuries, sexual allegations, children running away and other problems.\u00a0<\/p>

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Most of those \u2014 about 92% \u2014 were \u201cscreened out\u201d by county child welfare officials, who decided to investigate 89 of the abuse and neglect reports from 11 youth treatment centers. That\u2019s about 17 reports per year and an 8% \u201cscreen in\u201d rate, which is far lower than the 26% rate for overall calls to the child abuse hotline or the 15% \u201cscreen in\u201d rate for calls from youth institutions.<\/p>\n

Youth treatment centers, which have residential and day treatment programs for children in foster care or with such extreme behavioral issues that they do not live with their parents, have been under scrutiny in recent years by Colorado media, the Child Protection Ombudsman\u2019s Office and state lawmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alarming incidents included the deaths of two boys, ages 12 and 15, who ran away from different centers in 2018 and 2020 and were struck and killed by vehicles. And in December, a 32-year-old youth treatment counselor at Tennyson Center in Denver was charged with sexual assault of a child after a 15-year-old boy living in the residential program revealed they had a sexual relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun and 9News fought for five years to get data showing the number of hotline calls that originate from the state\u2019s child treatment centers. The news outlets first sought the data in 2021 after the boys\u2019 deaths and while investigating how many youth run away from the centers and how often police are called to help find them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Colorado Department of Human Services had refused to release the information, saying it would violate children\u2019s privacy, but was forced to turn it over after the media outlets sued and the case made it all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court. The state\u2019s highest court ruled in favor of the media outlets in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ruling led to state child welfare officials releasing data requested five years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The original request focused on three Denver area youth centers with some of the highest numbers of runaways and police calls \u2014 Tennyson Center, Mount Saint Vincent and Cleo Wallace. Tennyson and Cleo Wallace have since closed their residential programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the five-year-old data shows that there were 1,571 hotline calls from just those three centers in three years. Of those, child welfare officials looked into 106 reports, or 6.7%. Information about those investigations and the allegations contained in the reports is confidential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latest data shows high volume of calls have persisted<\/h2>\n

After the state Supreme Court ruling, The Colorado Sun sent a new request under the Colorado Open Records Act to get the up-to-date numbers of hotline calls.<\/p>\n