Information, not legal advice. What you find here is general information and free tools. It is not legal advice about your situation, and using it does not make us your attorney. Every case is different. For advice about your own case, a licensed attorney can help — Colorado’s Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel provides court-appointed lawyers for parents who qualify.

Recorded audio coming soon

Guides · Glossary

The Words They Use: A CPS Glossary for Parents

The system speaks its own language — and parents are expected to keep up. Here's every major term, translated into plain words. Type below to filter.

Find a word

Adjudication: The court's decision on whether the legal definition of "dependent or neglected" is met in a case. It's about the children's circumstances — the law does not treat it as a criminal conviction of the parent.
Advisement: An early hearing where the judge explains the case, the allegations, and the parents' rights — including the right to a court-appointed lawyer for parents who qualify.
Allegation: A claim someone has made that hasn't been proven. The petition lists allegations; court is where they get tested.
Assessment / Investigation: The county's information-gathering after a report: interviews, home visits, records checks. It can end with closure, services, or a court filing.
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate): A trained community volunteer assigned in some cases to get to know the family and report to the court. Not the parent's advocate.
Caseworker: The county human-services employee who investigates and manages the case. Their reports become the official record — unless a parent keeps their own record too.
Case plan: Often used interchangeably with "treatment plan" — the court-adopted list of what must change and which services are involved. See Treatment plan.
Continuance: A postponement of a hearing to a later date.
County attorney: The lawyer who represents the county human-services department in court. Not neutral — they present the department's case.
D&N (Dependency and Neglect): The type of civil court case Colorado uses when the government asks a court to oversee a child's welfare. Different rules and standards than criminal court.
Dependent or neglected: The legal status the court decides at adjudication, defined by Colorado's Children's Code. A finding about the child's situation, not a criminal verdict about the parent.
Disposition: The hearing (and order) after adjudication where the court adopts the treatment plan and decides next steps.
EPP (Expedited Permanency Planning): Colorado's faster timelines for young children (under six), designed to settle where a child will permanently live sooner. It means the clock runs faster in those cases.
Family time / Parenting time / Visitation: Scheduled contact between parents and children placed out of the home. Orders set the terms; missed visits get documented — by both sides.
Founded / Unfounded: The county's own conclusion about a report after assessment. A "founded" finding can sometimes be appealed — deadlines apply, and they're short.
GAL (Guardian ad litem): A lawyer appointed to represent the children's best interests. Their recommendation carries weight with judges. Not the parent's lawyer.
Hotline report / Referral: The call or submission that starts everything. Reporters' identities are confidential by law.
ICPC: Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children — the process (often slow) for placing a child with someone in another state.
ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act): A federal law with stronger protections and different standards when a child is a member of (or eligible for membership in) a federally recognized Tribe. If it might apply, it's raised as early as possible.
Kinship placement: Placing children with relatives or close family friends instead of strangers. The system is supposed to give family real consideration; parents can propose names early and in writing.
Magistrate: A judicial officer who hears many D&N matters. Some magistrate decisions can be reviewed by a district judge — deadlines are short.
Mandatory reporter: Professionals (teachers, doctors, therapists, and others) legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect.
No-contact order: A court order barring contact between named people. Violating one has serious consequences, even when the other person initiates.
Ombudsman (Child Protection Ombudsman of Colorado): An independent office created by statute to take complaints about Colorado's child-protection system and push for fixes. Complaints can be filed at coloradocpo.org.
ORPC (Office of Respondent Parents' Counsel): The state office that provides and supports court-appointed lawyers for parents in D&N cases — coloradoorpc.org.
Permanency hearing: The hearing where the court settles the lasting plan for a child: reunification, guardianship, adoption, or another arrangement.
Petition: The document that opens a D&N case, listing the county's allegations. Parents are entitled to see it.
Placement: Where children live during a case: home with a safety plan, with kin, in foster care, or elsewhere by court order.
Protective supervision: An arrangement where children stay home while the county supervises under court oversight.
Respondent: What the parent is called in a D&N case — the person responding to the petition.
Reunification: Children returning home — the goal the law starts with in most cases.
Review hearing: Regular court check-ins on progress under the treatment plan. Documentation shines or stings here.
Safety plan: A written agreement during assessment meant to address safety concerns (for example, another adult stays in the home). Before a court orders it, it's generally voluntary — reading fully and asking a lawyer first are options parents have.
Shelter hearing: The quick hearing (generally within about 72 hours, excluding weekends/holidays) after an emergency removal, where the judge decides where children stay for now.
Termination of parental rights (TPR): A separate, formal court proceeding asking to permanently end the legal parent-child relationship. Higher standard of proof, right to counsel, right to appeal. The most serious step the system can take.
Treatment plan: The court-adopted document listing what a parent must do and what services are provided. Specific, realistic, in-writing terms — and proof of completion — are what review hearings run on.
Trails: Colorado's statewide child-welfare database, where reports and case records live.
UPL (Unauthorized practice of law): Why nobody but a licensed attorney may tell you what to do in your specific case — including us. We share information; your lawyer gives advice.