Cases | People ex rel. N.D.S., 5 P.3d 382 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000) | 2018
A child pled guilty to misdemeanor menacing and felony criminal mischief and was adjudicated delinquent. The child’s parents were the victims of his acts. The child was placed in foster care and the magistrate ordered the parents to pay foster care fees. The parents appealed. The appellate court held that the trial court did not err in assessing foster care fees against the parents. Neither the Colorado Crime Victim Compensation Act nor the Colorado Children’s Code implicitly or explicitly obviates the parents' duty of support if they are the victims of their child's criminal acts. As victims under the Act, the parents may have been entitled to compensation from the crime victim compensation fund. Further, they could have sought an order obliging the child to pay restitution for actual pecuniary damages resulting from the delinquent acts. However, parents have a statutory obligation to contribute to the cost of their child’s residential placement under the code.