Juvenile cases involving children with serious mental illnesses require the juvenile court to serve as the probate court.

The juvenile court has exclusive jurisdiction over any child who comes within the court’s jurisdiction for the treatment or commitment of a mentally disabled child.

The Child’s Mental Health Treatment Act covers children not within the juvenile court’s jurisdiction. This Act was passed in 1999 to make mental health services more available to families seeking mental health treatment for their children.

Parents whose children are at risk for out-of-home placement because of a mental illness may apply to a community mental health center for their child’s mental health treatment and services. The community mental health center must then clinically assess the child’s need for mental health services and provide any needed treatment. The child must be Medicaid-eligible because of the need for mental health services, and not required to be in a dependency and neglect action.

Denial of services may be appealed. If the community mental health center denies the parent’s application for residential treatment services, the family must be advised by the center, both orally and in writing, of the appeal process. The appeal process includes the center completing an internal appeal process within two working days, and an objective mental health professional at the Colorado Department of Human Services reviewing the center’s final denial of services within five working days.