Child protection experts: Pay foster families more
George Davis, a child psychiatrist and former employee of the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department, departs from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
New laws or more money for New Mexico's beleaguered children protection agency will not improve the lives of foster children, two experts told a powerful legislative panel on Wednesday.
They did however, seem to agree that money for foster families could be one part of the solution.
Mike Hart, the attorney who initially took the state government to court over its failed foster care system, and George Davis, a child psychiatrist, spent two hours with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon discussing what they called 'the hardest job in state government': being a caseworker for foster children.
There are 2,067 children in custody of the state Children, Youth and Families Department, said Davis, who is also a former department employee.
Davis said what stands in the way of a properly functioning agency are three interrelated problems: inadequate staffing, a lack of foster families where children can be placed and a lack of services for those foster families.
'We know what has to be done. It's not a new law,' Hart said. 'The department needs to be supported.'
In her State of the State address on Jan. 21, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she will back exempting foster families and grandparents raising grandchildren from personal income tax and push to double their stipends up to $900 more dollars monthly.
Davis said the governor's idea would make it easier to inspire and recruit more foster families. Hart suggested public service announcements encouraging New Mexicans to become foster parents.
Davis also pointed to a model in Utah where the state government created a nonprofit for the sole purpose of recruiting and supporting foster families.
Cox calls on Utahns to consider foster care amid biggest shortage of licensed families in decades
Committee Chair Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) said when he heard the governor's address, he spoke with her staff who told him on Tuesday they are in the process of writing legislation to reform CYFD.
Cervantes said he is expecting CYFD Cabinet Secretary Theresa Casados to return to the committee soon with draft legislation. Sitting in the audience, Casados nodded in agreement.
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