Being falsely accused of abusing one’s children is among the worst nightmares of any parent. And if the bogus allegation is ginned up by an employee of the very same government agency that is charged with investigating child abuse – it’s an unconscionable breach of the public trust and an abuse of power.

Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky faced just such a horror last year when an Arapahoe County child protective-services worker allegedly faked a tip to the county accusing Jurinsky of sexually abusing her 2-year-old son. The false allegation launched an investigation that ultimately cleared Jurinsky.

County employee Robin Niceta – who has since resigned and was criminally charged in a case that is pending – is alleged to have acted against Jurinsky in retribution for her public criticism of Aurora’s police chief at the time, Vanessa Wilson. Wilson and Niceta were in a romantic relationship during that period.

A justifiably furious Jurinsky subsequently filed suit in state and federal courts. In December, an Arapahoe County court awarded Jurinsky $3 million in damages from Niceta. But this week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to hold Arapahoe County commissioners liable for Niceta’s actions.

As The Gazette reported Wednesday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip Brimmer ruled that Niceta’s alleged action – calling a false claim into her agency’s child-abuse hotline – was a private act that did not involve her responsibilities as a child-protective worker. Meaning, the county wasn’t responsible for Niceta’s alleged off-duty actions however outrageous they were.

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We’ll defer to the court on Arapahoe County’s liability to Jurinsky, but the ruling doesn’t resolve a much broader and potentially even more troubling concern – whether Arapahoe and other counties need better, systemwide safeguards against such abuses in general.

The dismissed federal lawsuit also had sought class-action status for 24 other people who alleged Niceta and other county child-protective staffers had falsified evidence during investigations. Indeed, after Jurinsky’s ordeal was reported by The Gazette in spring 2022, wide-ranging allegations emerged from indignant parents who said they had been wronged by the county’s child protective-services agency and staff.

While this week’s federal ruling was welcomed by the Arapahoe County Commission – it issued a public statement calling the lawsuit “groundless” – the question remains as to whether reforms are needed to prevent more such incidents. As we noted here last year when the story broke, if Niceta’s alleged abuses could occur at one such county agency that handles cases of child abuse and neglect, a reexamination of procedures and safeguards is warranted for counterpart agencies in other counties across Colorado.

An evaluation by the Colorado Department of Human Services released in July concluded there were no ongoing, systemic problems with Arapahoe County’s child-protective agency. But Jurinsky angrily dismissed the findings as a “total whitewash.”

She noted another county protective-services worker had been accused of fraudulently reporting contacts in the state’s child-protective casework tracking system for investigations – and had been referred to the district attorney for criminal investigation.

“We have two liars that affected potentially hundreds of families. And yet (the state gives) an A-plus rating,” she said. “The hypocrisy in this report is huge.”

A more thorough, statewide systems check is still warranted. Not just into what did go wrong – the focus of the review that was released in July – but into what could.

The power to take custody of a household’s children after allegations of abuse or neglect poses an awesome responsibility that must be handled with utmost caution. If that power is abused, it can destroy innocent lives.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board