By Sean Hauser

s.hauser@krdo.com

PUEBLO – There’s been an on going debate over child welfare in the state of Colorado.  Monday, that debate took to the Steel City.

Both the public as well as elected officials from all over Southern Colorado had the chance to voice their opinions at a public forum in the Colorado State Mental Health Institute in Pueblo.  Most of the speakers opposing some of the recommendations made by the Governors Child Welfare Action Committee.

The Committee recently made several recommendations on how to tackle the issues in the state, and some of them are causing quite a bit of controversy.  There are two recommendations in particular that have the attention of El Paso County Commissioner, Sallie Clark.  They would shift control of all Human Services to the state and establish a centralized call center to report child abuse.  Clark says she believes it would actually endanger children’s lives and slow response time when dealing with child abuse.

"We feel that our community and our local providers understand our communities best and that we can really deliver the services better than a bigger bureaucracy at the state of Colorado." She explained.  “Primarily, this is really about protecting our children.”

Clark wasn’t the only one concerned; the public forum was standing room only Monday.  Commissioners from several different counties from all over the state joined Clark.

The Governor has promised that he will not be introducing any legislation based on the committee’s recommendations any earlier than 2010.  The committee say’s they will continue to hold public forums to hear more opinions on the issue.

Stay tuned to NEWSCHANNEL 13 and KRDO.com for updates on this story.