72 of the 175 Colorado children who have died of child abuse over the past 5 years were known to human services. A 6-month investigation by 9NEWS and the Denver Post reveals how these children were Failed to Death by each and every person they had ever known. Reporters fought for access to public documents, police reports, and court records, along with gaining unprecedented access to every step of the process. What they uncovered is a system where accountability and transparency is nearly non-existent and caseworkers find it nearly impossible to assess which children will live and which will not.
Click here for the details on
each case.
7:15 PM, Apr 11, 2013
ADAMS COUNTY - An Adams County Judge says the county's Social Services are to blame for the death of 22-month-old Michael Harris, who died February of 2011 from injuries inflicted by his mother's boyfriend.
8:44 PM, Mar 6, 2013
DENVER - Three months after a 9Wants to Know and Denver Post investigation into child welfare in Colorado, the state has announced a redesign of caseworker training.
3:14 PM, Nov 26, 2012
KUSA - 72 of the 175 Colorado children who have died of child abuse over the past 5 years were known to human services. A six-month investigation by 9NEWS and the Denver Post reveals how these children were Failed to Death by each and every person they had ever known.
3:53 PM, Nov 19, 2012
DENVER - The vice-chair of the state Senate's Health and Human Services Committee plans to request a meeting with Governor John Hickenlooper and DHS state director Reggie Bicha to discuss additional ways to prevent child abuse and neglect.
3:35 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 8 - The state Department of Human Services is making progress in its attempt to improve the child welfare system in Colorado.
3:27 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 4 - One of the most challenging obstacles caseworkers face when investigating neglect and abuse complaints is distrust from parents who fear children will immediately be removed from their home.
3:24 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 3 - Removing children from their home is always a last resort for county Department of Human Services, according to case workers interviewed by 9NEWS.
3:21 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 2 - Child welfare cases that end with the death of a child often lack transparency which enables social service workers and other agencies responsible for protecting children to escape accountability.
3:18 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 1 - The mother who poured gasoline on her five children, killing her 16-month old daughter told the 9Wants to Know investigators she blames herself, but says a child welfare caseworker and a crisis counselor could have done more.
9:54 PM, Nov 15, 2012
We generally don't get to see each step of a process when the whole process involves confidentiality. Tuesday night is different.
9:51 PM, Nov 15, 2012
DENVER POST - Child deaths and abuse allegations have exploded in El Paso County in recent years.
3:46 PM, Nov 19, 2012
In 2011, Sailor Serenity Raine Kuhn spent her first, and last, Halloween with her grandma while her teenage parents and their friends set out to "create havoc on the town" of Dolores, according to police reports.
3:46 PM, Nov 19, 2012
Amee Espinoza remembers the little details about her son.
3:45 PM, Nov 19, 2012
Owen Reak was 19 months old when he died April 11, allegedly after being hit in the abdomen so hard by his mother's boyfriend that his intestines were ruptured and he bled to death internally.
3:45 PM, Nov 19, 2012
Joslyn Asberry was wearing five barrettes the night she died - two pink, one white, one brown and one orange. For every barrette, the coroner found three scrapes, bruises or cuts on the 3-year-old's 28-pound body.
3:43 PM, Nov 19, 2012
Long before Tavyus Workman was born, his fractured family seemed in almost constant crisis.
6:37 PM, May 2, 2013
KUSA - Prosecutors say it's one of the worst child abuse cases they've seen.
7:15 PM, Apr 11, 2013
ADAMS COUNTY - An Adams County Judge says the county's Social Services are to blame for the death of 22-month-old Michael Harris, who died February of 2011 from injuries inflicted by his mother's boyfriend.
3:35 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 8 - The state Department of Human Services is making progress in its attempt to improve the child welfare system in Colorado.
3:33 PM, Nov 19, 2012
THE DENVER POST, DAY 8 - Methods to help protect children from abuse and neglect exist, but Colorado has lacked the funding or political will to implement many of them.
3:32 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9NEWS, DAY 7 - Over the past week, 9Wants To Know has shared important but very difficult stories about what is happening in Colorado's child welfare system.
FIGHTING CHILD ABUSE
10:51 PM, May 2, 2013
ADAMS COUNTY - For the first time, the boss of the child welfare office defends his department to 9Wants to Know after a judge publicly ripped into caseworkers and called for a grand jury investigation.
10:48 PM, Jan 4, 2013
KUSA- 3-year-old Caleb Pacheco died needlessly and far too young.
3:37 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9Wants to Know worked with many journalists at the Denver Post on the Failed to Death project.
3:36 PM, Nov 19, 2012
9Wants to Know spent 6 months working with the Denver Post reviewing the child welfare system in our series Failed to Death.