The Colorado Department of Human Services wants the state’s highest court to review a recent appellate court opinion that could force the disclosure of aggregate statistics about child-abuse hotline calls made from licensed residential care facilities.

In November, the Court of Appeals sided with The Colorado Sun and 9NEWS in ruling that the Colorado Children’s Code doesn’t necessarily prohibit DHS from publicly releasing the number of Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline calls placed over three years from the Mount St. Vincent, Cleo Wallace and Tennyson Center facilities.

The judges sent the case back to Denver District Court with instructions to “determine whether, in light of our opinion, the requested records would disclose ‘identifying information’ of a child, family, or informant associated with a child abuse or neglect report.”  

But in a certiorari petition filed with the Colorado Supreme Court last week, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Carty called the Court of Appeals opinion “legally erroneous” and claimed it “puts the safety and privacy of children, families, and informants in jeopardy.”