Colorado's child welfare system provides a range of services to protect children from abuse and neglect and to assist families in caring for their children.
This issue brief addresses the state's emergency mental health hold procedure, which allows for a person to be involuntarily held for a 72-hour period of treatment and evaluation if he or she appears to have a mental illness and, due to the mental illness, appears to be an imminent danger to self or others, or appears to be gravely disabled.