Colorado § 19-7-301 Legislative declaration

Colorado Statutes

§ 19-7-301 — Legislative declaration

Colorado § 19-7-301

Title 19Children's

Art.Youth in Foster Care

This text of Colorado § 19-7-301 (Legislative declaration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 19-7-301 (2026).

Text

(1)The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a)Each year, for a variety of reasons, more than two hundred youth, ages eighteen to twenty-one, exit Colorado's foster care system without an established permanent home or a stable support network;

(b)These youth typically do not have the same safety nets, supportive adults, and support networks as other youth their age;

(c)Many of these youth will face challenges as they search for affordable housing, pursue higher education or training, search for employment, manage tight budgets, take care of health needs, and more;

(d)Youth who are making the transition out of foster care into independent living face not only the typical developmental changes and new experiences that are common to youth but also the dramatic change fro

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(1) The general assembly finds and
declares that:

(a) Each year, for a variety of reasons, more than two hundred youth, ages
eighteen to twenty-one, exit Colorado's foster care system without an established
permanent home or a stable support network;

(b) These youth typically do not have the same safety nets, supportive
adults, and support networks as other youth their age;

(c) Many of these youth will face challenges as they search for affordable
housing, pursue higher education or training, search for employment, manage tight
budgets, take care of health needs, and more;

(d) Youth who are making the transition out of foster care into independent
living face not only the typical developmental changes and new experiences that
are common to youth but also the dramatic change from being under the county's
care to being on their own, many without any support systems to help them
succeed;

(e) Additionally, many of these youth are dealing with the long-term
consequences of trauma related to their experience with abuse, neglect, removal,
or overall lack of resources;

(f) The array of services and supports available to youth while they are in the
foster care system, including housing, food, health care, and caseworker support,
diminish when the youth exit the foster care system; and

(g) Available research shows that emancipating youth benefit from extended
foster care services and supports until age twenty-one, and community-based
supports through early adulthood, but for the benefits of such services and
supports to last, youth in foster care need developmentally appropriate services,
including freedom to test their independence and to make mistakes with
proportional consequences and a reasonable safety net.

(2) Therefore, the general assembly declares that by establishing a
voluntary transitional foster care program, allowing youth to reenter the state's
foster care system through a foster youth in transition program, and ensuring
equitable access to less restrictive supports in the community, the state can better
meet the needs of those youth who are making the transition from foster care to
successful adulthood.