Forgotten victims: Opioid epidemic sparks change in Colorado child welfare system

The parents didn’t stir when police officers arrived. They didn’t rouse from their drug-induced sleep when officers and concerned maintenance workers shined flashlights in their faces and removed their children from their squalid central Fort Collins townhome. Officers found overflowing toilets and sewage-soaked carpets that night in October 2016. They found drug paraphernalia and a hypodermic needle partially loaded with heroin — most within easy reach of the children. READ THE FULL STORY