Colorado

Facilities in Colorado

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Colorado

Colorado puts every licensed profession behind one complaint form at the Division of Professions and Occupations. It also has an independent Child Protection Ombudsman with its own complaint form, which publishes investigative reports naming what it found; that is a real route when a report has already been made and nothing moved.

Time limits in Colorado: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Assault, battery and false imprisonment: one year. Negligence and most other injury claims (including outrageous conduct / emotional distress): two years. By statute, the clock starts when you knew, or reasonably should have known, both the injury and its cause. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103(1)(a); § 13-80-102(1)(a); § 13-80-108(1)
If it happened before you turned 18: Less certain For a minor with no court-appointed guardian, the deadline does not run until 18; they then have the normal period or two years after turning 18, whichever ends later. If a court appointed a guardian or conservator for the child, the clock runs during childhood as for an adult (the guardian gets at least two years after appointment). A parent is not a 'legal representative' unless appointed by a court. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-81-103(1)(a), (c); § 13-81-101(2)-(3); § 13-80-108(1)
If the program was run by or for the government: Before suing a state or local government body or its employee, you must file a written notice within 182 days after discovering the injury (with the Attorney General for the state), then wait for a denial or 90 days; the suit itself must meet the normal deadline. Government bodies are immune except in listed situations. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-10-109(1), (3), (5), (6)
Child sexual abuse: Colorado has no civil SOL for CSA claims against all defendants. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Felony child abuse must be charged within three years of the offense, the general felony period. There is no rule pausing it until the child turns 18 for physical (non-sexual) abuse. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 16-5-401(1)(a) (child abuse is § 18-6-401)
Assault: Felony assault must be charged within three years of the offense. Misdemeanor assault: 18 months. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 16-5-401(1)(a)
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for felony sex offenses against children. The SOL is 5 years from the offense for misdemeanors. Trafficking: There is no SOL for felony sex trafficking of a minor. CSAM: There is no SOL for felony CSAM offenses. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations (DORA)

Multiple professions

Takes and investigates complaints against every mental health licence Colorado issues - psychologists, clinical social workers, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists and addiction counselors - through one form, and the boards discipline the licence.

Use this whenAny licensed mental health professional in Colorado. Anyone can file: a client, a colleague, a family member.

HowUse the Division's single complaint form and pick the licence type.

Colorado's mental health practice act sets a filing deadline, but the Division's own pages did not state it when this was checked. Ask the Division how long you have before assuming you are out of time.

303-894-7855 DORA main line. Toll free 1-800-886-7675.
File a complaint
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The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Colorado Behavioral Health Administration

Licenses behavioral health entities in Colorado and takes complaints about the services they provide.

Use this whenA licensed behavioral health provider or program.

HowSubmit a complaint through the BHA's complaint page, or email the complaints address.

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline

The statewide report line for child abuse and neglect. It routes the report to the county department that investigates.

Use this whenA child at a Colorado program.

HowCall. It is answered at any hour, every day.

1-844-264-5437 1-844-CO-4-KIDS. 24 hours a day, every day.
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Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Office of Colorado's Child Protection Ombudsman

An independent office that investigates complaints about the child protection system, including how an agency handled a case, and publishes investigative reports setting out what it found. It has looked at residential child care facilities directly.

It examines how the system responded rather than licensing or prosecuting a program itself.

Use this whenA family or young person who reported something to a Colorado agency and got nowhere, or who believes the response itself caused harm.

HowUse the office's own complaint form.

Disability Justice (Colorado's Protection and Advocacy agency)

Colorado's federally mandated P&A, with authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Colorado program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

Formerly Disability Law Colorado; it now operates as Disability Justice.

1-800-288-1376 Main line 303-722-0300 voice/TDD.
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National reporting channels, and the same list for other states