A group of fatalities has caused one local child protective agency to change its criminal background check (Click here) policies.

A recent report from the Colorado Department of Human Services details the changes that Larimer County Child Protective Services has made to its background check policies. Recent incidents have led the agency to focus more on conducting background checks on parents and other caregivers.

The Munoz report details the ways in which the death of a 20-day-old Fort Collins child prompted LCCPS to conduct more background checks. For instance, the agency instituted a change during the fall of 2008 that allows more than a single manager to complete all the background checks.

That report took 14 months to complete and make public, and following its release, Colorado DHS employees confessed that they failed to keep track of it and similar investigations into the deaths of nine other children in 2008.

According to an article by The Coloradoan, these reports are the only public documents detailing the process by which state and county officials conduct a “Child Fatality Review” any time a child in a level of DHS supervision dies.

The investigation, which is conducted by state and county employees, is meant to promptly identify and correct any mistakes made so they won’t be repeated.

“We are now able, as we get a report in, to run background checks on any of the parties involved,” LCDHS Director Ginny Riley said. “We’re using this more and more as we’re looking at placements and we want to make sure that family is a safe place for a child.”

Another change covered under the Munoz report implements a new screening process for referrals or reports of suspected abuse. Currently, a team of employees works to consider such reports of suspected abuse, as opposed to a single manager.

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