2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 19 - Children's Code
Article 3 - Dependency and Neglect
Part 4 - Temporary Custody and Shelter
§ 19-3-402. Duty of officer - notification - release or detention

(1) When a child is taken into temporary custody, the officer shall notify a parent, guardian, or legal custodian without unnecessary delay and inform him that, if the child is placed out of the child's home, all parties have a right to a prompt hearing to determine whether the child is to remain out of the child's home for a further period of time. Such notification may be made to a person with whom the child is residing if a parent, guardian, or legal custodian cannot be located. If the officer taking the child into custody is unable to make such notification, it may be made by any other law enforcement officer, probation officer, detention center counselor, shelter care provider, or common jailor in whose physical custody the child is placed.

(2) (a) The child shall then be released to the care of his or her parents or other responsible adult, unless it is in the child's best interests and necessary for the child's welfare to be placed out of the child's home. In the event the child is placed out of the child's home, if in the best interests of the child, preference may be given to placing the child with the child's grandparent who is appropriate, capable, willing, and available to care for the child. The court may make reasonable orders as conditions of said release and may provide that any violation of such orders shall subject the child or the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian to contempt sanctions of the court. The parent or other person to whom the child is released may be required to sign a written promise, on forms supplied by the court, to bring the child to the court at a time set or to be set by the court.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) to the contrary, when the child is part of a sibling group and the sibling group is being placed out of the home, if the county department locates an appropriate, capable, willing, and available joint placement for all of the children in the sibling group, it shall be presumed that placement of the entire sibling group in the joint placement is in the best interests of the children. Such presumption may be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence that placement of the entire sibling group in the joint placement is not in the best interests of a child or of the children.

(3) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (3), a child shall not be detained by law enforcement officials any longer than is reasonably necessary to obtain his name, age, residence, and other necessary information and to contact his parents, guardian, or legal custodian.

(b) If he is not released as provided in subsection (2) of this section, he shall be taken directly to the court or to the place of detention, or a temporary holding facility, or a shelter designated by the court without unnecessary delay.

(4) The officer or other person who takes a child to a detention or shelter facility or a temporary holding facility shall notify the court and any agency or persons so designated by the court at the earliest opportunity that the child has been taken into custody and where he has been taken. He shall also promptly file a brief written report with the court and any agency or person so designated by the court stating the facts which led to the child being taken into custody and the reason why the child was not released.