Arapahoe County defends child protection service after Aurora lawmaker calls state review, ‘whitewashing’

AURORA | A group of families who allege they were wronged by the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services pushed back on a report clearing the county of systemic misconduct Monday, calling it a “whitewashing.”

“Where’s the follow-up? Where’s the action plan? Where’s the steps for improvement?,” asked Elliot Singer, an attorney representing the group that is pursuing class-action litigation against the county.

“Of course these people want civil damages. Of course they want their day in court. But I think, if you talk to them, you would find out that what they want more than anything is accountability, justice and a promise that what they went through will never happen to anyone again.”

Singer and Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky led the news conference Monday, which was called after the release of the report Friday in which state investigators said charges against former social worker Robin Niceta of making false allegations of child abuse against Jurinsky did not reflect more wide-ranging failures.

Investigators said they had found “no pervasive agencywide practice issues that indicate systemic lapses to protect children or serve families” after evaluating work done by the county and interviewing county employees.

“We never take lightly the critical role our human services employees play in protecting children and vulnerable adults,” said Carrie Warren-Gully, chair of the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners, in a statement.

“We’re grateful to the Colorado Department of Human Services for the professional, thorough and sensitive review of our intake systems and we are gratified in the knowledge that the system works and continues to improve every day.” 

The review was undertaken after Niceta was accused of calling the county in January 2022 to fraudulently claim that Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky had sexually molested her own son. Jurinsky had criticized Niceta’s girlfriend at the time, then-Aurora police Chief Vanessa Wilson, a few days earlier on a talk radio show.

Jurinsky was investigated by the county as a result of the allegation, which was not substantiated, and the call was eventually traced back to Niceta.

Niceta subsequently resigned from her job with the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services and was charged with retaliation against an elected official, a sixth-degree felony, and making a false report of child abuse as a mandatory reporter, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Jurinsky responded by suing Niceta for defamation — a $3 million default judgment was entered against Niceta in December — and launching a class action lawsuit against the county, saying Niceta’s behavior reflected deeper problems within the county agency.

Niceta’s criminal case is ongoing. Niceta has most recently been the center of controversy over whether she falsified medical records in legal proceedings, purporting to have a brain tumor. Her trial is slated for August.

Niceta’s actions while employed by the county and the resulting scrutiny led the county to invite an investigation by the Colorado Department of Human Services. In September, the state released the summary of an audit that identified several concerns with Niceta’s work for the department, including a lack of documentation.

The state also hired a group of consultants to scrutinize how the county handles child abuse tips. The 63-page report produced by the consultants covers their findings and recommendations in several areas, including training, supervision, workload and how quickly caseworkers follow up on tips.

The authors rejected the suggestion that the county has systematically failed at protecting children and highlighted changes made to the Child and Adult Protection Services Division in the past 18 months, including the rollout of a new strategic planning process incorporating employee and family input.

They said the state found “no evidence of systemic concerns of falsification of contacts” and added that “ACDHS is actively working to address identified intake challenges through supervisory strategies aligned with the best practice literature.”

Jurinsky said she did not trust the report and said investigators’ conclusions did not satisfactorily address the earlier audit and the fact that a caseworker was fired for falsifying notes, one of five people fired recently for various reasons, according to the report.

“They wrote this glowing review and said there’s nothing to see here,” Jurinsky said. “They’re proud of themselves that they only have two liars.”

On Monday, she and other representatives of the class-action lawsuit against Arapahoe County gathered outside of the county building in central Aurora and challenged the thoroughness and independence of the report.

Singer said the lawsuit includes 40 people, not including other individuals and families that are suing the department separately. He also said the report came as a surprise on Friday and that investigators had not talked with the families who are a part of the lawsuit to understand their concerns.

Jurinsky said the scope of wrongdoing by Niceta and possibly the other caseworker who had been fired could include hundreds or thousands of tainted cases that she said the county failed to adequately review. She questioned why the county had not released more information about the individual fired for falsifying notes.

“It’s absolutely a whitewash,” she said. “I absolutely believe this is a systemic issue that spawns way farther than Arapahoe County. In fact, I think it’s probably national. … I do believe that there are good people who do good work. But I think that they’re probably overrun, and all it takes is a couple bad apples to ruin it for everyone and start tearing families apart.”

Anders Nelson, a spokesman for Arapahoe County, said it was up to the district attorney to share more information about the employee who falsified notes, since criminal proceedings have been initiated against them.

“Arapahoe County stands behind the results of the third-party independent investigation into its human services processes,” he said. “As a result of the 2022 investigation into former caseworker Robin Niceta, the Colorado Department of Human Services determined a wider and deeper investigation was needed and the third-party review was initiated. That investigation determined there are no systemic issues with the department.”

The county has filed a motion to dismiss the class-action case, and both parties are waiting for a ruling on that motion. Suzanne Taheri, another lawyer working on behalf of the group, said the group was also asking a state legislature working committee to audit the county.