The Office of the Child Advocate Could Help CYFD Earn Back Our Trust
The State of New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, 1031 Lamberton Place NE in Albuquerque, photographed on Friday December 18, 2015. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)
As an advocate for children in foster care and a former foster parent myself, I was heartened to see lawmakers prioritize reforms to the state's Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) during the recent legislative session, and grateful to see several critical reforms signed into law. These new laws will help bring much needed transparency, accountability, and oversight to the troubled agency, so it can better serve New Mexico's kids and their families.
But I am deeply troubled that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham line-item vetoed crucial funding for one of these important reforms: the Office of the Child Advocate, a new, independent office that will oversee child well-being in the state.
Earlier this year, the governor pleasantly surprised me by acknowledging the need for significant change at CYFD in her State of the State speech. For several years now, her administration has resisted calls from advocates like me, members of the public, and lawmakers for greater oversight of the agency. I felt like maybe our calls were finally being heard.
Since then, however, her words and actions tell a different story. While the governor signed the legislation creating this office, House Bill 5, she wrote a poison pen message as she did so, accusing those who championed the bill of pursuing a 'vendetta' against her and attempting to 'intimidate' CYFD staff. She even told a reporter that she was concerned the bill's supporters were using children and families 'as some sort of political effort to harm or discredit another elected official.'
The harms we should be worried about are not political. Too many children have already paid the price for CYFD's mistakes and failures. Too many kids have been harmed or even killed on CYFD's watch. Those of us who are pushing for change are doing it for one reason only: to better protect our kids.
While I know that most of the agency's frontline staff are hardworking individuals who are dedicating their careers to helping kids, the agency has long been plagued by a culture of secrecy and defensiveness. That culture has undermined CYFD's ability to accomplish its mission and resulted in a loss of public trust that makes it harder to hire new caseworkers and recruit foster families.
The Office of the Child Advocate will help restore that trust by giving kids a stronger voice within the system that is supposed to keep them safe. The Child Advocate will investigate and resolve complaints from children and families involved with CYFD and report on the agency's progress and challenges to help us understand what else needs to change.
Legislators allocated $1 million dollars in this year's $10.8 billion dollar state budget to help the Office of the Child Advocate get off the ground. That's a small price to pay to improve the well-being of the most vulnerable children in our state and help CYFD begin to earn back our trust.
Thankfully, New Mexico's Attorney General has indicated that the state's Department of Justice can help make up for the vetoed funding. By vetoing this funding and taking efforts to reform CYFD personally, the governor has only proven the necessity of outside oversight.
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