Colorado Attempting to Keep Connections Between Teens Who Are Incarcerated and Their Children

Date:  10-16-2018 Seven-day visiting, parenting classes and a furlough to attend birth of a child are some of the policy changes at Colorado youth jail

From The Colorado Sun: The few dozen paper ornaments hanging from the Christmas tree in the lobby of the state human services department were gone in little more than an hour last year. Employees snatched them up, eager to buy the requested gifts: a box of diapers, a warm coat, a baby doll. Like most other giving trees, this one’s branches were filled with the wishes of needy children. Except these were the infants, toddlers and preschoolers whose parents were locked up in youth detention centers throughout Colorado. Tony Gherardini, deputy executive director of operations for the Colorado Department of Human Services and a father of three, plucked an ornament for an 18-month-old girl. Sitting at his desk downtown, Gherardini tapped his keyboard until he found a Minnie Mouse hat and a matching jacket on Amazon. Continue reading >>>