Black and Latino children end up in foster care in Colorado at higher rates despite overall drop

The number of children entering foster care in Colorado has dropped by 25% in the past five years, but children who are Black, Latino and Native American are still being removed from their parents’ homes at higher rates than white children.

Black children are overrepresented at every level of the child welfare system, from hotline calls reporting suspected abuse to removal from their homes, according to an annual state report required by the legislature. There are 2.3 times more Black children in foster care than the percentage of Black children in Colorado’s population. This is slightly better than in 2024, when they were overrepresented by 2.7 times the Black population.

Similarly, the percentage of Native American children in foster care is twice as high as the percentage of Native American children who live in Colorado. 

In comparison, the percentage of white kids who are the subject of child abuse hotline calls and living in foster homes is less than the percentage of white children in the state. 

The second annual report was required by a law passed in 2024 intended to better track the data and try to close the disparity gap. State child welfare officials will discuss the findings at a Dec. 17 virtual town hall. 

More than 6,000 children and teens have gone to out-of-home placements in recent years, from foster homes to residential treatment centers. Efforts to reduce that number, including in-home services focused on child abuse prevention, resulted in a 25% drop from 2020 to 2025. The help includes resources for families dealing with poverty, housing instability, childcare and mental health. 

County child welfare officials also have focused on sending more kids to what are called “kinship” homes, which are the homes of relatives, coaches, teachers or family friends. Half of children separated from their families are now going to kin, the highest rate recorded in Colorado, according to the report from the Colorado Department of Human Services. 

The state is also trying out a new “warm line” in Boulder, Pueblo and Gilpin counties, which reroutes calls about family services to 211 Colorado, a resource line, instead of the child abuse and neglect hotline. Officials are gathering data from the 10-month project to evaluate it for possible expansion to the rest of the state.

From 2024 to 2025, the number of white children who were the subject of a child welfare case dropped by 82 and the number going into foster care dropped by 48, bringing the total in foster care last year to 977. Asian children were also significantly underrepresented at every key decision point in determining a child’s fate.

That was not the case for other races, however. Black children were far overrepresented in all categories of involvement in 2024 and 2025, including hotline calls that led to further review and foster care placement. There were 4,919 hotline calls selected for further review that involved abuse and neglect of Black children last year, and 278 Black children went into foster homes.

State officials and a committee of lawmakers have been talking for a few years about how to fix the disparity in foster care for Black children in particular.

For Latino children, who are also overrepresented at every level of the system, there was a huge drop in the number of hotline calls that led to further review, with 644 fewer cases from 2024 to 2025. But the number of Latino kids going into foster homes jumped by 196 in one year, bringing the total to 1,212. 

When looking at a longer stretch of time, it’s clear there has been progress in the disparity gap for Latino children. Since 2010, there have been 40% fewer Latino children and teens placed in foster homes. And the percentage of Latino children going to kin instead of strangers increased to 56% last year from 41% in 2016.

For Black children, there was a 36% reduction in foster care placement from 2016 to 2025. Also, the number of Black children going to institutions instead of foster homes dropped to 6% last year from 20% in 2016, according to the report. 

“This is a great sign of progress and aligns with overall trends in Colorado with regard to reductions in congregate care,” state child welfare officials wrote.

The improvement reflects the state’s shift toward a “prevention-oriented, family-centered child welfare system,” they said.