Colorado’s minor consent and confidentiality laws let young people get certain medical care without a parent’s permission, and in most cases keep those visits out of the parent’s view. What a minor can consent to depends on the type of care: substance use treatment and contraception have no minimum age, outpatient therapy opens up at 12, and broader medical, dental, and surgical care becomes available at 15 for teens living on their own. Abortion is the main exception, because a parent must be notified even though their consent is not required.
Care a Minor Can Consent to Without a Parent
Substance Use Treatment — Any Age
Colorado sets no minimum age for a minor to consent to substance use care. Under C.R.S. 13-22-102, any minor can consent to examination and treatment for drug use or a substance use disorder from a Colorado-licensed physician, without parental notification or approval.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 13-22-102 – Minors – consent for medical care and treatment for use of drugs or a substance use disorder A 13-year-old who walks into a clinic seeking help for opioid use can be treated without a call home first.
Contraception, STI Testing, and Pregnancy Care — Any Age
Minors of any age can consent to contraceptive services, including birth control supplies, procedures, and information, from any provider licensed under Colorado’s health professions title acting within their scope of practice. The same statute covers testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy-related care such as prenatal visits and delivery.2Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 13-22-105
Outpatient Psychotherapy — Age 12 and Up
A minor 12 or older can consent to outpatient psychotherapy on their own, but the therapist has to make two findings first: that the minor is seeking services knowingly and voluntarily, and that the therapy is clinically indicated and necessary for the minor’s well-being.3Justia. Colorado Code 12-245-203.5 – Minors – consent for outpatient psychotherapy services – immunity – definition Both have to be met. A therapist who thinks a teen is only there because a friend or partner pushed them into it cannot proceed under this statute.
The therapist also has to talk with the minor about the value of involving a parent. With the minor’s permission the therapist may notify a parent, unless doing so would be detrimental to care.3Justia. Colorado Code 12-245-203.5 – Minors – consent for outpatient psychotherapy services – immunity – definition This provision covers outpatient therapy only. Inpatient psychiatric care still requires parental consent.
General Medical, Dental, and Emergency Care — Age 15 If Independent
C.R.S. 13-22-103 lets a minor consent to hospital care, medical and dental treatment, emergency care, and surgical procedures if the minor is 15 or older, lives apart from their parents or legal guardian, and is managing their own money. Where the money comes from doesn’t matter; what matters is that the minor is actually handling their own finances.4Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 13-22-103 – Minors – consent for medical care
The same statute lets a married or divorced minor consent to those services at any age, and lets a minor who is a parent consent to care for their own child.4Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 13-22-103 – Minors – consent for medical care
Emergency Rooms
Federal law layers a safety net over all of this. Hospital emergency departments must screen and stabilize any patient who arrives with an emergency medical condition, regardless of age, insurance, or ability to pay.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1395dd – Examination and treatment for emergency medical conditions and women in labor An ER cannot delay a screening exam to hunt down a parent.
Abortion Is the Exception: Notification Required
The Colorado Parental Notification Act, codified at C.R.S. 13-22-701 et seq., requires that a parent or guardian receive written notice at least 48 hours before an abortion is performed on an unemancipated minor.6Colorado General Assembly. Colorado Revised Statutes 13-22-701 et seq. – Colorado Parental Notification Act This is notification, not consent: the parent doesn’t have to agree, but they must be told. A minor who doesn’t want a parent notified can ask a court to waive the requirement, described below.
Colorado’s broader abortion law has been changing. The 2022 Reproductive Health Equity Act declared a fundamental right to continue or end a pregnancy, and voters approved Amendment 79 in 2024, adding abortion to the state constitution. How those protections interact with the parental notification requirement is unsettled, and anyone facing this situation should talk to a Colorado attorney about the current state of the law.
Who Can See the Records
Consent rights matter little if a parent can request the chart the next day. HIPAA addresses this directly. Under 45 C.F.R. 164.502(g)(3), when a minor lawfully consents to their own care and state law doesn’t require parental consent, the parent is not the child’s “personal representative” for that treatment. The provider can deny the parent access to records tied to that specific care.7Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights. The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Parental Access to Minor Children’s Medical Records
HIPAA also lets a provider withhold records from a parent when the provider reasonably believes the child has been or may be subjected to abuse or neglect, or that treating the parent as the child’s representative could endanger the child.7Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights. The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Parental Access to Minor Children’s Medical Records
The Insurance Billing Gap
The bigger real-world leak usually isn’t the chart. It’s the insurance paperwork. When a minor uses a parent’s health plan, the insurer typically sends an Explanation of Benefits to the policyholder — the parent — showing the type of service, the provider, and the date. HIPAA requires providers and plans to accommodate reasonable requests to send communications to an alternative address, but plans may condition that on a statement that the standard mailing would endanger the patient. Colorado has a regulation requiring insurers to protect confidentiality for dependents on a family policy, though it has historically been limited to adult dependents rather than minors. For a teen who needs the visit to stay private, paying out of pocket or using a Title X-funded clinic is often the more reliable option.
What Confidentiality Doesn’t Cover
Mandatory Reporting of Abuse
A minor’s right to consent does not override mandatory reporting. Colorado law requires physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers, teachers, and emergency medical providers, among others, to report suspected child abuse or neglect immediately upon having reasonable cause to believe it is occurring.8Justia. Colorado Code 19 – Section 19-3-304 – Persons required to report child abuse or neglect If abuse comes up during a therapy session the minor consented to on their own, the therapist has to report it, and the investigating agency may end up contacting a parent.
Title X-funded clinics face a parallel rule: federal appropriations language bars any Title X provider from being exempted from state laws requiring the reporting of child abuse, molestation, sexual abuse, rape, or incest.9HHS Office of Population Affairs. Title X Statutes, Regulations, and Legislative Mandates
Therapy the Minor Wants to Refuse
The mental health statute has one more limit worth knowing. A minor cannot refuse psychotherapy when both the treating professional and the parent agree the services are in the minor’s best interest.3Justia. Colorado Code 12-245-203.5 – Minors – consent for outpatient psychotherapy services – immunity – definition The consent laws let minors seek care; they don’t give minors an absolute veto over care a parent and clinician agree is needed.
Judicial Bypass for Abortion Notification
A minor who wants an abortion without a parent being told can petition a district court or the Denver Juvenile Court for a bypass. The court has to hold a hearing and decide within four calendar days of filing.10Colorado Judicial Branch. Rules of Procedure for Judicial Bypass of Parental Notification Requirements The minor has to show either that she is mature enough to make the decision on her own, or that notifying a parent would not be in her best interest.6Colorado General Assembly. Colorado Revised Statutes 13-22-701 et seq. – Colorado Parental Notification Act
If the court denies the petition, the minor can file an expedited appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals, which has to hear and decide it within five days. A grant of the bypass cannot be appealed by anyone.6Colorado General Assembly. Colorado Revised Statutes 13-22-701 et seq. – Colorado Parental Notification Act
The whole proceeding is confidential. The petition, pleadings, transcripts, and order are stored in a sealed envelope marked “SEALED MATERIALS — CONFIDENTIAL” and identified by case number only. Courthouse staff are prohibited from disclosing that the minor filed a petition, and the clerk’s office has to assist the minor in a way that protects her anonymity.10Colorado Judicial Branch. Rules of Procedure for Judicial Bypass of Parental Notification Requirements A lawyer isn’t required, but going through a court hearing alone as a teenager is hard in practice, and reproductive health organizations can often connect minors with attorneys familiar with the process.