Peo in Interest of TS

── Peo in Interest of TS ── Court: Colorado Court of Appeals Date: June 04, 2026 Category: General 25CA2216 Peo in Interest of TS 06-04-2026 COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS Court of Appeals No. 25CA2216 Moffat County District Court No. 25JV30006 Honorable Brittany A. Schneider, Judge The People of the State of Colorado, Appellee, In the Interest of T.S., a Child, and Concerning J.S., Appellant. JUDGMENT AFFIRMED Division II Opinion by JUDGE HARRIS Tow and Brown, JJ., concur NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced June 4, 2026 Max Salazar, County Attorney, Alison D. Casias, Special Assistant County Attorney, Dillon, Colorado, for Appellee Nichole Marie Cristee, Guardian Ad Litem John F. Poor, Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, Denver, Colorado, for Appellant ¶1 J.S. (father) appeals the judgment adjudicating T.S. (the child) dependent or neglected. We affirm. I. Background ¶2 In July 2025, the Moffat County Department of Human Services filed a petition in dependency or neglect, alleging substance use in the home, domestic violence between the parents, and lack of proper supervision of the child, who was four years old at the time. Among other things, the Department alleged that the caseworker had observed mother with a black eye and that the child had told the caseworker that his parents hit each other. ¶3 Mother admitted to the allegations, but father denied them and asked for a jury trial. The juvenile court held a trial over three days in September 2025. After hearing the evidence, the jury found that the Department had proved the allegations by a preponderance of the evidence. The court sustained the petition and adjudicated the child dependent or neglected. After a dispositional hearing, the court adopted a treatment plan for father. II. Child Hearsay ¶4 Father asserts that the juvenile court erred by (1) admitting the child’s hearsay statements and (2) failing to give the jury a 1  cautionary instruction on child hearsay. We discern no reversible error. A. Applicable Law and Standard of Review ¶5 Hearsay is an out-of-court statement “offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” CRE 801(c). Generally, hearsay is inadmissible, except as provided for by a rule or statute. CRE 802. ¶6 Section 13-25-129, C.R.S. 2025 (the child hearsay statute), creates an exception for hearsay statements made by children. Under the child hearsay statute, the juvenile court may admit out- of-court statements made by a child “if the court finds in a pretrial hearing conducted outside the presence of the jury that the time, content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient safeguards of reliability.” § 13-25-129(5)(a). ¶7 The supreme court has provided a nonexhaustive list of factors for a court to consider when deciding whether to admit a statement under the child hearsay statute. These factors include (1) whether the statement was spontaneous; (2) whether the statement was made while the child was still upset or in pain from the alleged abuse; (3) whether the language was likely to have been 2  used by a child of the victim’s age; (4) whether the allegation was made in response to a leading question; (5) whether the child victim or the hearsay witness had a bias against the defendant or any motive to lie; (6) whether intervening events could account for the statement; (7) whether more than one person heard the statement; and (8) the general character of the child victim. People v. District Court, 776 P.2d 1083, 1089-90 (Colo. 1989). ¶8 The child hearsay statute requires the juvenile court to give the jury a written instruction whenever child hearsay evidence is admitted. See § 13