AKRON, Colo. — A judge recently ordered Washington County's Department of Human Services to release an internal investigation of its handling of child welfare cases.
The move comes after a mother and father spent three years fighting in court for the right to raise their own son.
Alicia Johansen and Fred Thornton were finally granted custody of their son Carter in the spring of 2023, only after an internal investigation into the Washington County DHS and specifically its director Grant Smith.
Attorney Melanie Jordan, Policy Director at the Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, is still trying to figure out what happened in that 2019 case.
“It was incredibly frustrating. and really maddening," she said. "We kept on feeling like there was something we were missing."
“I think that whatever was happening might be the missing piece that led us to be in that place for three years of going, why is this happening?” Jordan said.
Despite the case being over, Washington County continued to fight for another year and half, petitioning the Colorado Supreme Court to keep the details of that investigation sealed.
In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled “that trial Courts do have continuing jurisdiction in matters which involved the attorneys' actions in the cases before the courts“
Now, district court judge Charles Hobbs has issued an order demanding transparency of the internal investigation. In his two-page order issued April 8, Hobbs wrote, "it is not hyperbole to say that the parents in this case suffered a manifest injustice."
Hobbs went on to write that Johansen and Thornton "faced the unrelenting hostility of the department."
Hobbs also mentioned concerns about "numerous experts whose opinions appear to be based on highly questionable science."
Hobbs was referring to social worker Diane Baird’s parent-child interactional evaluations, which have been under recent scrutiny in a ProPublica investigation.
In the Thorntons' case, Baird sided with the foster parents despite Johansen and Thornton doing everything they were asked to complete in their parenting plan. Baird wrote, "the parents' growth is commendable and undeniable; it does not mitigate the danger to Carter in the event of a change of caregiver."
Baird's methodology has recently been called into question, with the Kempe Center stating, “While attachment theory and parent-child interaction assessments are valuable therapeutic frameworks, their use in isolation… is not consistent with current best practices and can be misused by experts and attorneys alike.”
The Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman urged the Colorado Department of Human Services to investigate Washington County DHS after they received complaints from six families, including the Thorntons. CDHS acknowledged that Washington County had violated policy 43 times, but said that it "has not identified the need for corrective action or further review related to systematic bias in casework."
In explaining his decision to release the report, Hobbs wrote, "The broader community has an interest in not only the wrongs imposed on the family but also the use of government resources in perpetuating that wrong."
“I think this order is courageous and important, to have that information out there and hopefully can prevent future incidents like this from happening," Jordan said.
She hopes this ruling will lead to “accountability for counties who are making these decisions, who impact families for generations to come.”
Washington County has until 12 a.m. Tuesday to file another appeal. If they decline to continue the fight, the redacted version of the internal investigation will finally be available to the families involved.
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