H.  Legal Custody Options


C.R.S. § 19-1-103(73)
Legal custody means the right to the care, custody, and control of a child and the duty to provide food, clothing, shelter, ordinary medical care, education, discipline for the child, to determine where the child will live (unless the child is placed with DHS), and, in an emergency, to authorize surgery or other extraordinary care. This custody may be taken from a parent only by court order.

C.R.S. § 19-1-115(1)
Options for legal custody include an individual, agency or institution. Preference, however, is for the child’s grandparent who is determined to be appropriate, capable, willing, and available for care if the court finds, after due diligence, no suitable natural or adoptive parent.

C.R.S. § 22-1-102
A child is determined to be a resident of the school district where the person having legal custody resides.

C.R.S. § 19-1-115(3)(b)
C.R.S. § 24-60-1801 et seq

No individual or agency vested by the court with legal custody of the child may remove a child from the state for more than thirty days without court approval. When granting this approval, the court should follow the requirements of the Interstate Compact on Placement of Children (ICPC).

C.R.S. § 19-1-103(60)
Legal guardianship means the duty and authority to make major life decisions affecting a child, including the authority to: consent to the child’s marriage; enlistment in the armed forces; medical or surgical treatment; represent a child in legal actions and make decisions of substantial legal significance concerning the child; consent to the adoption of a child when the parent’s rights were previously terminated; along with having the rights and responsibilities of legal custody (when this has not been ordered in another person, agency, or institution.)