By Michael Phillips | Father & Co

Colorado lawmakers have introduced a bill that, on its face, is about privacy and dignity—but beneath the surface raises serious questions for parents navigating family court.

Senate Bill 26-018, introduced during the 2026 session of the Colorado General Assembly, is titled “Legal Protections for the Dignity of a Minor.” Sponsored by Democratic legislators Sen. Katie Wallace, Sen. Chris Kolker, Rep. Meg Froelich, and Rep. Lorena Garcia, the bill makes two notable changes to how courts handle cases involving minors.

For parents—especially those already wary of how family courts interpret “best interests of the child”—the second change is the one that matters most.

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What the Bill Changes

SB26-018 addresses two areas:

1. Sealing Name-Change Records for Minors

The bill requires courts to suppress public records related to a minor’s legal name change unless the petitioner has a prior felony conviction. Courts may still use the records internally, but names cannot be published online. Outside access is limited and requires verbal consent plus an affidavit.

Supporters frame this as a privacy safeguard. Critics worry it reduces transparency in family cases, making it harder for parents to track or challenge changes that may later surface in custody disputes.

2. A New Custody “Factor” Tied to Identity

The more controversial provision requires family courts to consider whether parents “recognize the child’s identity as it relates to a protected class” when deciding parenting time or decision-making authority.

In Colorado, protected classes include gender identity and gender expression.

The bill does not:

• Allow children to change names without court involvement
• Automatically remove custody from non-affirming parents
• Mandate gender transition or affirmation

But it does place a parent’s willingness to “recognize” a child’s asserted identity inside the custody calculus—alongside factors like stability, safety, and emotional support.

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Why Parents Are Alarmed

Family court rarely operates in absolutes. Decisions are shaped by judicial discretion, social-worker recommendations, and the cumulative weight of “relevant factors.”

Parents concerned about SB26-018 argue that once identity recognition becomes a required consideration, disagreement can be reframed as harm. In contested cases, that reframing matters.

For non-affirming parents—particularly those raising questions, seeking time, or preferring caution—the risk is not immediate termination of rights, but gradual erosion:

• Reduced parenting time
• Loss of decision-making authority
• Being labeled “non-supportive” despite otherwise fit parenting

From a Father & Co perspective, this is familiar terrain. Temporary decisions become permanent. “Factors” harden into outcomes. And parents discover—often too late—that neutrality is no longer an option.

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Viral Claims vs. Real Risk

Online rhetoric around SB26-018 has been extreme, with claims that the state will “take children” or “erase parental rights.” Those claims overstate the bill’s text.

But parents don’t experience family court through statutory summaries. They experience it through:

• Reports
• Evaluations
• Judicial interpretation
• Enforcement patterns

The real concern is not what the bill mandates, but what it signals: that ideological alignment on identity may increasingly influence custody outcomes, even when both parents are loving and capable.

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Part of a Larger Pattern

SB26-018 follows Colorado’s 2025 “Kelly Loving Act,” which expanded protections around gender identity and introduced the concept of “coercive control” into family law discussions. While some language was softened before passage, the trajectory is clear.

Identity-based considerations are moving from civil rights law into family court—where the stakes are not abstract, but profoundly personal.

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Where Things Stand

As of now, SB26-018 is in the early committee stage. It may be amended, narrowed, or defeated. But regardless of its final form, the bill reflects a broader shift in how courts are being asked to evaluate parents.

For families across the country, Colorado’s debate is a warning shot:
family court is no longer just about safety and stability—it is increasingly about alignment.

Father & Co will continue tracking these developments, not through partisan slogans, but through the lived realities of parents navigating systems that quietly redefine the rules while insisting nothing has changed.

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