A new law in Colorado, House Bill 18-1104, established new protections for parents and prospective parents with disabilities in Colorado.
These protections include:
- Disabilities cannot serve as a basis for restriction or denial of parental responsibilities or parenting time in domestic law proceedings unless there is a clear reason why it would negatively affect their ability to meet the children’s needs.
- Disabilities cannot serve as a basis for denial of guardianship, foster care, or a private or public adoption when this arrangement was already determined to be in the children’s best interests.
- The court must consider the benefits of supportive parenting services the parent or potential parent can provide when determining guardianship, foster care, adoption placements, parenting time, and parental responsibilities. The court can also require that these services be implemented or provided depending on the family’s resources.
“We at Harris Family Law strongly support this groundbreaking legislation,” The Harris Law Firm President Rich Harris said. “No parent should be denied the right to care for their children merely due to a disability. This is a pro-family, pro-child piece of legislation.”
Societal biases have prevented potentially loving and supportive parents from providing children with the love and care they crave. While it will take time and considerable effort to completely overcome these obstacles, this new law is a major step forward that will certainly pave the way for new happy families to come together, and ensure that existing ones aren’t affected because of a disability.
At The Harris Law Firm, we are committed to providing families and individuals in need with the experienced and passionate representation they deserve. If you are looking to hire a Colorado family law attorney to represent you, give us a call at (303) 622-5502 today, or fill out our online form to provide us with the full details of your situation and schedule a case consultation with a member of our firm.