People in Interest of B.C.B.

2025 CO 28. No. 24SC539. Dependency and Neglect—In Utero Substance Exposure.

May 27, 2025

This dependency or neglect action, in which the El Paso County Department of Human Services (department) and the guardian ad litem for the child challenged the court of appeals division’s judgment reversing a dependency or neglect adjudication, required the supreme court to construe CRS § 19-3-102(1)(g). That statute provides that a child is dependent or neglected if “[t]he child is born affected by alcohol or substance exposure, except when taken as prescribed or recommended and monitored by a licensed health care provider, and the newborn child’s health or welfare is threatened by substance use.” Id. The court concluded that a child is born affected by alcohol or substance exposure within the meaning of § 19-3-102(1)(g) when, as here, the child tests positive at birth for methamphetamine. This alone, however, does not suffice to establish that the child was dependent or neglected because the statute further requires that the department prove that “the newborn child’s health or welfare is threatened by substance use.” Id. The department satisfies this prong of the statute if it shows either that (1) exposure to a particular substance directly threatens a child’s health or welfare; or (2) as a result of a parent’s substance use, the parent would be unable to care for the child properly. Applying this construction of the statute here, the court concluded that sufficient evidence supported the jury’s finding that the child was dependent or neglected. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment of the division below.