E.L. et al. v. Adams County Sheriff Gene Claps, et al.

Juvenile Law Center, National Association of Counsel for Children and other amici partners have submitted two briefs in support of Plaintiffs in E.L. et al. v. Adams County Sheriff Gene Claps, et al. in support of Plaintiffs' appeal of the lower court’s decision to deny their motion for a preliminary injunction.  

This case is part of the Right2Hug campaign and challenges a total ban on in-person visitation at the Adams County jail. The Plaintiffs argue that children have a right to familial association, including the right to visit with their incarcerated parents.

 Amici’s brief focuses on the unique harms to children in the family regulation or child welfare system. We highlight that in-person visitation is particularly crucial to system-involved youth. We also underscore how policies to keep children from their families disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and Latine youth and entrench structural racism.  

With pro bono paralegal support from Ballard Spahr LLP, Amici submitted a brief in the Colorado Supreme Court in support of Plaintiffs’ petition for extraordinary relief. The Colorado Supreme Court denied Plaintiffs’ request and dismissed Amici’s motion for leave to file as moot. Plaintiffs then appealed in the Colorado Court of Appeals, and Amici submitted another brief in support of their appeal.