Colorado Supreme Court to decide if foster parents can intervene in abuse hearings
An orthopedic surgeon thoroughly examined the baby and found a total of eleven fractures in various stages of healing, including seven fractures to his ribs. The doctor determined that the fractures were consistent with child abuse, not accidents.
"This was one of the most egregious cases I've ever seen," says attorney Tim Eirich of the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center. Eirich represented the foster parents in the court case resulting from the abuse. "First and foremost, the injuries to this child really made this egregious. But it was compounded by the department's lack of response."
And it didn't end there, Eirich says. Despite the alleged abuse, the boy's parents were allowed overnight visitation with him while he was in foster care. However, the foster parents expressed concerns about those visits, noting that that the boy often came back to them dirty and thinner than when he left. 
Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center
At the least, the boy's biological parents struggled to comply with treatment plans set up by the department of human services. The plans required them to attend parenting classes, couples counseling and evaluations, and to find jobs and stable housing. But they often missed appointments, therapy and visits with the boy.
In addition, the boy's mother sent a "barrage of harassing text messages" to the caseworker assigned to the case, including one that said, "We have done everything in the original treatment plan and then some, quit fucking around and fork (the boy) over."
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