The Timothy Montoya Task Force to Prevent Children from Running Away from Out-of-Home Placement was established by House Bill 22-1375 for the purpose of analyzing the root causes of why children run away from out-of-home placement.

The Colorado Lab is conducting focus groups with children in out-of-home placement and young adults under 22 who have aged out of the child protection system. An additional series of focus groups with out-of-home placement providers will also be conducted to determine what conditions lead children to run away from out-of-home placement, the provider efforts to locate children who have run away, and the services provided to a runaway child upon the child’s return. Focus group findings will be shared with the Task Force to inform their work to develop a consistent, prompt, and effective response to recover