Lawyers clashed in the Colorado Court of Appeals over whether the state’s Children’s Code prohibits the Colorado Department of Human Services (DHS) from publicly releasing aggregate statistics about child-abuse hotline calls made from licensed residential care facilities.
A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against a state agency by 9NEWS and The Colorado Sun, ruling that a statute prohibits the disclosure of aggregate child-abuse hotline statistics sought by the news organizations for certain state-licensed residential facilities.
While reporting their recent joint investigative series on state-licensed residential treatment centers, journalists for The Colorado Sun and 9NEWS asked for — but were denied — records showing the number of calls made to the state’s child abuse hotline from three facilities.
