13-91-105. Duties of the office of the child's representative - guardian ad litem and counsel for youth programs.

Statute text

(1) In addition to any responsibilities assigned to it by the chief justice, the office of the child's representative shall:

(a) Enhance the provision of GAL or counsel for youth services in Colorado by:

(I) Ensuring the provision and availability of high-quality, accessible training throughout the state for persons seeking to serve as guardians ad litem or counsel for youth, as well as to judges and magistrates who regularly hear matters involving children and families;

(II) Making recommendations to the chief justice concerning the establishment, by rule or chief justice directive, of the minimum training requirements that an attorney seeking to serve as a guardian ad litem or counsel for youth shall meet;

(III) Making recommendations to the chief justice concerning the establishment, by rule or chief justice directive, of standards to which attorneys serving as guardians ad litem or counsel for youth must be held, including but not limited to minimum practice standards. Minimum practice standards must include:

(A) Incorporation of the federal guidelines for persons serving as guardians ad litem or counsel for youth, as set forth in the federal department of health and human services' "Adoption 2002" guidelines, and incorporation of the guidelines for guardians ad litem or counsel for youth adopted by the Colorado bar association in 1993;

(B) Minimum duties of guardians ad litem or counsel for youth in representing children involved in judicial proceedings;

(C) Minimum responsibilities of guardians ad litem or counsel for youth in representing children involved in judicial proceedings; and

(D) A determination of an appropriate maximum-caseload limitation for persons serving as guardians ad litem or counsel for youth;

(IV) Overseeing the practice of guardians ad litem or counsel for youth to ensure compliance with all relevant statutes, orders, rules, directives, policies, and procedures;

(V) Working cooperatively with local judicial districts, attorneys, and children and youth impacted by the child welfare and justice system to form partnerships for the purposes of ensuring high-quality legal representation for children and youth in Colorado.

(VI) Establishing fair and realistic state rates by which to compensate state-appointed guardians ad litem or counsel for youth that take into consideration the caseload limitations placed on guardians ad litem or counsel for youth and that are sufficient to attract and retain high-quality, experienced attorneys to serve as guardians ad litem or counsel for youth;

(VII) Seeking to enhance existing funding sources for the provision of high-quality guardian ad litem or counsel for youth services in Colorado;

(VIII) Studying the availability of or developing new funding sources for the provision of guardian ad litem or counsel for youth services in Colorado, including but not limited to long-term pooling of funds programs;

(IX) Accepting grants, gifts, donations, and other nongovernmental contributions to be used to fund the work of the office of the child's representative relating to guardians ad litem or counsel for youth. Such grants, gifts, donations, and other nongovernmental contributions must be credited to the guardian ad litem fund, created in section 13-91-106 (1). Money in the fund is subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly for the purposes of this subsection (1)(a) and for the purposes of enhancing the provision of guardian ad litem or counsel for youth services in Colorado.

(X) Effective July 1, 2001, allocating money appropriated to the office of the child's representative in the state judicial department for the provision of GAL or counsel for youth services;

(b) Provide support for the CASA program in Colorado in the manner described in section 19-1-213;

(c) Enhance the provision of services in Colorado by attorneys appointed to serve as legal representatives of children pursuant to section 14-10-116, C.R.S., when the costs of such appointments are borne by the state, by:

(I) Ensuring the provision and availability of high-quality, accessible training throughout the state for attorneys seeking to serve as legal representatives of children, as well as to judges and magistrates who regularly hear domestic matters under article 10 of title 14, C.R.S.;

(II) Making recommendations to the chief justice concerning the establishment, by rule or chief justice directive, of the minimum training requirements that an attorney seeking to serve as a legal representative of a child must meet;

(III) Making recommendations to the chief justice concerning the establishment, by rule or chief justice directive, of standards to which attorneys serving as legal representatives of children must be held;

(IV) Overseeing the practice of legal representatives of children appointed pursuant to section 14-10-116, C.R.S., to ensure compliance with all relevant statutes, orders, rules, directives, policies, and procedures;

(V) Seeking to enhance existing funding sources for and studying the availability of or developing new funding sources for the provision of services by attorneys serving as court-appointed legal representatives of children;

(VI) Effective July 1, 2001, allocating moneys appropriated to the office of the child's representative in the state judicial department for the provision of services by attorneys serving as court-appointed legal representatives of children;

(d) Enforce, as appropriate, the provisions of this section;

(e) Work cooperatively with the judicial districts to establish pilot programs designed to enhance the quality of child representatives at the local level;

(f) Develop measurement instruments designed to assess and document the effectiveness of various models of representation and the outcomes achieved by representatives and advocates for children, including collaborative models with local CASA programs;

(g) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2009, (SB 09-048), ch. 120, p. 500, 1, effective August 5, 2009.)

(h) Cause a program review and outcome-based evaluation of the performance of the office of the child's representative to be conducted annually to determine whether the office is effectively and efficiently meeting the goals of improving child and family well-being and the duties set forth in this section, the reports for which shall be submitted to the members of the general assembly and the state court administrator's office, together with the reports specified in paragraph (i) of this subsection (1); and

(i) Notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), report the activities of the office of the child's representative to the members of the general assembly and to the state court administrator's office, together with the reports specified in paragraph (h) of this subsection (1), on or before September 1, 2001, and on or before September 1 of each year thereafter.

(2) The rate contracted for attorney time pursuant to subsection (1)(a)(VI) of this section for fiscal year 2023-24 is one hundred dollars per hour. The hourly rate must be increased annually by no more than five dollars each year until the hourly rate is at least seventy-five percent of the rate set pursuant to the federal "Criminal Justice Act Revision of 1986", 18 U.S.C. sec. 3006A, as amended, for indigent representation in federal court. The hourly rate may be adjusted in subsequent fiscal years to maintain the hourly rate at or above seventy-five percent of the rate set pursuant to the federal "Criminal Justice Act Revision of 1986", 18 U.S.C. sec. 3006A, as amended, for indigent representation in federal court.

History

Source: L. 2000: Entire article added, p. 1769, 1, effective July 1. L. 2003: (1)(b)(VII) amended, p. 754, 3, effective March 25. L. 2005: (1)(c) amended, p. 961, 5, effective July 1. L. 2009: (1)(g), (1)(h), and (1)(i) amended, (SB 09-048), ch. 120, p. 500, 1, effective August 5. L. 2015: (1)(c) amended, (HB 15-1153), ch. 124, p. 387, 1, effective January 1, 2016. L. 2017: (1)(i) amended, (SB 17-241), ch. 171, p. 623, 3, effective April 28. L. 2019: (1)(b) amended, (HB 19-1282), ch. 312, p. 2815, 2, effective May 28. L. 2021: (1)(a) amended, (HB 21-1094), ch. 340, p. 2220, 9, effective June 25. L. 2022: (1)(a)(V) amended, (HB 22-1038), ch. 92, p. 431, 3, effective January 9, 2023. L. 2023: (2) added, (SB 23-227), ch. 77, p. 280, 2, effective August 7.

Annotations

Cross references: For the legislative declarations contained in the 2005 act amending subsection (1)(c), see sections 1 and 3 of chapter 244, Session Laws of Colorado 2005. For the legislative declaration in HB 22-1038, see section 1 of chapter 92, Session Laws of Colorado 2022.