By Shari F. Shink 

The next governor of Colorado has the chance to improve the lives of thousands of children in foster care and we’re not talking about new legislation. It’s a matter of making these invisible kids a priority and having the willpower to make the system more transparent and accountable. 

It might not even require more money, just a reallocation of dollars — and in fact could save resource-strapped Colorado millions of dollars by ensuring more of the 3,500 children and teens in foster care grow up to be taxpayers themselves.

Right now, Colorado’s foster care system is flat-out failing most, if not all, of its young charges. Only 30% will graduate high school, about half the national average. Homelessness is rampant among teens and young adults who age out of the system. Nearly 17% of state and federal prisoners have spent time in foster care. The ugly statistics go on and on. 

The nightmare is not news. What would be news is Colorado’s next governor turning the promises elected leaders have been making for decades into actual practice. Yes, the Bill of Rights for Foster Youth that became law earlier this year is symbolically important. But the guarantees on offer — freedom from abuse, access to education, timely court dates, among other laudable goals — are just words on paper unless someone in power insists otherwise. 

Whoever is elected governor in November 2026 can be that person. He or she must not back-burner the issue. Foster care should be prioritized in the same way current Gov. Jared Polis emphasized access to early-childhood education. 

What happened in Illinois is a good example. In 2019, the new governor commissioned a review of the child welfare system by an academic institute that recommended sweeping changes in the wake of children who died in the state’s care.

To better serve children in foster care who need us, I’d love to see the candidates make these five items top priorities:

A statewide audit

To put it bluntly, legislators are flying blind because the system operates in the dark. Treatments, interventions and relocations are all kept confidential under the guise of privacy rights for minors. A statewide audit would uncover everything from persistent delays in treatment to overlapping treatment programs to how many placements and court hearings a child typically has. Heartache is harder to measure, but it’s just as essential to evaluate the effects of instability and long-term trauma.

Permanency-focused advocacy

It’s politically incorrect to say, but not everyone can parent. Not every mom can overcome a drug addiction and not every dad can learn to control his temper. None of their children should be forced to live in indefinite limbo while they try to control their demons. Finding children a permanent placement within a year, 18 months tops, must be the rule rather than the exception. Take the money spent on people who can’t or won’t parent and give it to families — birth and foster — who not just need help but want it. Get kids a place to call home as quickly as possible. 

Results-based accountability

Trying isn’t good enough anymore. The goal must be a safe, healthy, loving environment while birth parents get their own lives together. In order to achieve that, there need to be clear performance measures for every single stakeholder, from the case workers to the lawyers on up to the judge. In other words, they do their jobs, or they don’t have jobs to do anymore. That means being less litigious and more compassionate, mediating differences and heading off conflicts, creating benchmarks for the children to establish what works rather than problem solving after the fact.

Making every dollar count

The budget for the Office of Children, Youth and Families is a little more than $803 million. That’s not small change, and yet it isn’t alleviating big problems. For instance, the money spent on caseworkers is huge, but that job is a revolving door due to high caseloads and limited support. That, in turn, creates more instability for kids, as do inadequate payments to foster parents or relatives willing to take in nieces or nephews. All of it needs to be reviewed and readjusted so every dollar does the most for the kids.

Value and promote relationships

Imagine being 18 or 21 and suddenly on your own, without a single enduring relationship. No parent to ask for advice, no teacher to seek out for guidance, because you’ve changed caseworkers, foster homes and schools a half-dozen times. This is unacceptable. The system must build in community and nurture it throughout a child’s life. One national program now in place helps create partnerships between birth parents and foster families, including in Colorado. The state needs more of that and less of the adults rotating through.

Helping children who are suffering through no fault of their own makes for a pretty good political platform. Whatever your political persuasion, kids are not a partisan issue.

Shari F. Shink is the founder of the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center and executive director of Cobbled Streets, which is focused on changing the lives of foster and homeless children.