Latest news with #CYFD
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lawmakers vow further exploration of CYFD reforms in interim before 2026 session
New Mexico lawmakers created a new child advocate position to oversee the troubled CYFD agency. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal) New Mexico lawmakers said Tuesday they plan to investigate more reforms for the state's troubled child welfare agency in advance of next year's legislative session, pointing to the recent tragedy of a 16-year old foster child's suicide as a catalyst for further action. The Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee convened at the Roundhouse for the first meeting of the interim, which included a presentation on recent reforms to the Children, Youth & Families Department lawmakers passed in the 2025 Legislative session. Specifically, House Bill 5 created an Office of the Child Advocate, which will be administratively attached to the state Department of Justice. Tuesday's hearing also exposed continued tension over the management of CYFD. The troubled agency has faced increased scrutiny over rising costs of settlements for maltreatment and deaths of children in custody from years past, as well as the housing of children in offices, which have included incidents of injury from private security guards. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez in April announced an investigation into the April death. In a recent interview with Source, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has clashed with the AG over CYFD, said the agency intends to abide with the Legislature's reforms 'in a robust and cooperative manner.' Sen. Joe Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), who co-chairs the interim committee with Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos), said New Mexico was failing to protect children in state custody which he called 'our most important, sacred responsibility.' 'We're not saving lives, we have children who are dying on our watch,' he said Tuesday. Cervantes alluded to Jaydun Garcia, the 16-year old who died by suicide in congregate care in April, but also mentioned a second case: 'I cannot go into detail, that we had another suicide: a young woman who was pregnant at the time in our state custody.' CYFD spokesperson Jessica Preston said she could not corroborate Cervantes' statement. 'State and federal confidentiality laws strictly limit what the Children, Youth, and Families Department can confirm or disclose about individual cases. We are only authorized to release information when it is determined that abuse or neglect caused a child's death,' Preston said in a written statement. 'Accordingly, no information can be provided.' CYFD was not invited to testify at today's meeting, both Cervantes and CYFD confirmed, with Preston noting that the agenda item related to the new office attached to the NMDOJ. CYFD Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados 'has said on many occasions that the Department welcomes oversight, and we look forward to collaborating with the new Office of Child Advocate to serve the children, youth, and families of New Mexico when it is up and running,' Preston wrote. Lujan Grisham line-item vetoed $1 million earmarked for Office of the Child Advocate from the budget, but allowed both a $650,000 appropriation the New Mexico Department of Justice to set up the office and $300,000 for CYFD to hire additional staff to respond to inquiries from the advocate to remain in the budget. Attorneys for NMDOJ said they would be able to stand up the office with the $650,000 appropriation, but would seek further funding in 2026. 'That sets us on a pretty good entry point,' said Billy Jimenez, the deputy attorney general for civil affairs at NMDOJ. 'From a purely administrative standpoint, we can provide staff to assist whether that's paralegals or clerical staff, HR staff. But I think, at the end of the day, we want to make sure that that office maintains… independence [and] their own paralegals and staff over time.' Further decisions about staffing the office will be made once the child advocate is in the role Jimenez said. The state is still in the process of appointing a statutorily required state child advocate selection committee, which is required by law to meet before Sept. 1 to consider recommendations for the state child advocate. Within 30 days of meeting, the committee is supposed to recommend a short list of candidates to the governor, who will make the appointment.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Torrez's CYFD investigation will fail if it leaves people out
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez says he's going to launch 'a comprehensive and wide-ranging investigation' into how the Children, Youth and Families Department fails children. Allow me to save him some time. I can just write the report now — and I'll throw in the news story that will follow. The story will go like this: The beleaguered Children Youth and Families Department and its embattled leadership are plagued with a shortage of foster parents and high turnover among demoralized, overworked and understaffed caseworkers, according to the blistering conclusions in a scathing report released today. We know this is what the report will say for a couple of reasons. First, almost (but not quite) all of that is true. Indeed CYFD's performance is every bit as awful as Torrez says it is. Second, it's what scathing reports on embattled child welfare agencies all over the country always say, particularly when those issuing the reports show no interest in real solutions. Real solutions have been in short supply in New Mexico. Instead, there's an endless appetite for rearranging the deck chairs on the child welfare Titanic: Create an ombudsman office! Take the agency out of the control of the governor! Move some functions to another agency! None of that ever works. Real solutions involve a single urgent first step: Viewing those who are investigated by CYFD and who lose their children to foster care as fully human — and worth talking to. That's not for the sake of the parents; it's for the sake of the children. Because it's the families needlessly investigated and the children needlessly taken who overload the system. That leads to tragedies ranging from children warehoused in hideous institutions or makeshift spaces to children in real danger overlooked in their own homes. It's not easy to rethink the stereotypes. We know the horror stories about brutally abusive or hopelessly addicted parents; but they're nothing like most of the parents caseworkers see. In 2022, the most recent year for which data are available, 78% of cases in which children were thrown into foster care in New Mexico did not involve even an accusation of sexual abuse or any form of physical abuse. Nearly two-thirds did not involve even an accusation of parental drug or alcohol abuse. In contrast, more than two-thirds involved 'neglect.' Sometimes that can be extremely serious; more often it means the family is poor. Indeed, CYFD admits that in 19% of cases, it took away children because of issues involving housing. So it's no wonder study after study finds that in typical cases children left in their own homes typically do better in later life even than comparably-maltreated children placed in foster care. In part, that's because of the enormous emotional trauma inherent in tearing a child from everyone loving and familiar. But there's also the high risk of abuse in foster care itself. Multiple studies find abuse in one-quarter to one-third of family foster homes; the rate in group homes and institutions is even worse. But when you overload the system with children who don't need to be there you create an artificial 'shortage' of foster homes — so more children are institutionalized, with all the horrible outcomes New Mexicans have seen. At the same time, all those false allegations, trivial cases and poverty cases overload workers, leaving them less time to investigate any case properly. That's almost always the real reason some children in real danger are missed. Real solutions demand doing more to ameliorate the worst hardships of poverty, and providing families with high-quality defense counsel; not to get 'bad parents' off, but to provide alternatives to the cookie-cutter 'service plans' often dished out by CYFD. But understanding that requires that first basic step: treating parents as fully human. Attorney General Torrez doesn't seem ready for that. As Source NM reported: Torrez's agency is also calling on current and former case workers, foster families, and youth impacted by the system to come forward with information … He's right to do that. But notice who's missing. He expresses no interest in hearing from birth parents who have lost children to the system because their poverty is confused with neglect. He shows no interest in hearing from the lawyers who represent them. He shows no interest in reaching out to anti-poverty organizations to ask them what they see when their clients interact with CYFD. He shows no interest in speaking to civil rights groups about whether they see all races treated equally when they encounter CYFD. That's a shame. Because, to paraphrase Torrez, I think we have all grown tired of waking up and hearing about another grandstanding politician holding another news conference to announce another investigation of CYFD that will solve nothing — because it avoids the problem at the root of all the rest: The only way to fix foster care is to have less of it.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
KRQE Newsfeed: Baby in dumpster, CYFD investigation, Warming up, Graduation rates, Love in the clouds
'Housing Forward Fund' to bring over 1,000 affordable housing units to Albuquerque Alleged Venezuelan gang member arrested at Doña County judge's home 1 dead after Rail Runner collides with vehicle in Los Lunas Former top 100 recruit commits to Lobos Portales police investigate shooting that injured juvenile New Mexico Highlands University sues FEMA over HPCC Fire compensation Istanbul earthquake measuring 6.2 leaves buildings, residents shaken: 'It threw us around' [1] APD: Newborn baby found dead in a dumpster – APD says officers were called out around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday after people digging through a dumpster found a dead newborn baby, partially wrapped in a blanket. APD says the individuals immediately alerted a security guard in the area. Police are not sharing details of the gender of the newborn or ow long the baby may have been in the dumpster. Police believe whoever the mother is may need medical attention. They are urging anyone with information to come forward. [2] New Mexico Attorney General launches investigation into CYFD – New Mexico's Attorney General is now investigating CYFD with the goal being to provide a blueprint of the issues that have plagued the agency and how to fix them. Raul Torrez said the agency is not being transparent about incidents that have left children under state supervision injured or dead. Torrez said the investigation will seek detailed records of events leading up to deaths or injury of children under CYFD supervision. The results will go to the newly created office of the child advocate, to provide a blueprint of the issues that have plagued the agency. [3 ]Warmer than normal with storms in far-East New Mexico – Isolated storms will be possible in eastern New Mexico through Saturday. High temperatures will stay above average all week long. Temperatures will also continue to stay well-above average for this time of year through the weekend. Westerly winds will increase across the state beginning Friday, bringing potentially even warmer temperatures by Saturday afternoon. Windier weather Sunday will likely bring a high fire danger across the state. A cold front will cool highs back down to around average again early next week. [4] Graduation rate increases for Albuquerque Public Schools – APS says they're seeing more students earn their caps and gowns than in years past. APS says the class of 2024 had a nearly 76% graduation rate, up from roughly 72% the previous year. They say increasing attendance and an early warning system to let students know about low grades have helped improve student success. The district's graduation rate is still below the 87% national average. [5] Balloon Fiesta showcased in new Hallmark movie – Albuquerque native Lisa Hepner knew her home state had everything needed to make a great film. So Hepner got to work writing and completing 'Love in the Clouds.' The storyline revolves around an out of town news reporter who comes to cover Balloon Fiesta and meets and falls for a hot air balloon pilot. Most of the filming took place at Balloon Fiesta Park. Love in the Clouds premieres on Hallmark on May 10. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
New Mexico Attorney General launches investigation into CYFD
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Condemning the governor and her New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department's secretaries, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced on Tuesday he is launching an investigation into CYFD. He said the agency won't be up front about incidents that have left children under state supervision injured or dead. Story continues below Trending: ABQ family defies all odds after their fetus received a rare diagnosis Breaking: Pope Francis dies at 88 Crime: Repeat International District murder suspect facing new charges The attorney general said he launched the investigation after a teen killed himself while in state custody, but his investigation doesn't stop there. 'His death is, I think, for me, a turning point in terms of how we're going to address the failures at CYFD,' said Attorney General of New Mexico Raúl Torrez. Torrez announced Tuesday that the New Mexico Department of Justice will be opening an investigation into the recent death of a 16-year-old boy Jaydun Garcia, who was living in a congregate facility overseen by CYFD. 'Sadly, he took his own life in a facility that we know is not in the best interest of traumatized, abused, and neglected children,' said Torrez. Torrez shared frustration at the lack of information the agency releases to the public in cases like this. 'More needs to be done in terms of shining a light on what is happening inside that agency.' He argued that confidentiality concerns do not justify the level of secrecy. 'There's a way to protect their privacy interests without shielding the misconduct,' added Torrez. CYFD has been under scrutiny for children sleeping in offices as the state faces a lack of foster parents, where there have been reports of children being assaulted by workers and other residents. For years, the agency has been plagued by high-profile cases of injuries and deaths involving children who were supposed to be under their supervision. The state paid out millions of dollars last year for the wrongful death of 4-year-old James Dunklee Cruz in 2019. Even after CYFD found the boy with a black eye, bruised genitals, and other injuries, a CYFD supervisor kept him in his mom's care. Two months later, James was beaten to death by a man they were living with. In 2022, CYFD removed kids from a home in Texico where they were found to be chained to beds and in dog cages, but still the kids were placed back in the home and eventually removed again. Several women were arrested in that case. The AG's office said his investigation will be wide-ranging and take a comprehensive look at the events leading to cases like these. 'I think we have all grown tired of waking up and hearing about another child who's been injured, another child who's been hurt, another child in state custody who's been killed.' The investigation is expected to last several months. The results will go to the newly created Office of the Child Advocate, which was created during the recent legislative session to independently oversee CYFD under the umbrella of the state Department of Justice. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's Office sent KRQE this statement: As the state's attorney, Mr. Torrez has authority to investigate CYFD or any other state agency, and the governor's administration always cooperates and shares any information requested. CYFD's own investigation into the tragic suicide of a teenage boy is already well underway, and the agency will share its findings with the Department of Justice. It should be noted that just last month, Gov. Lujan Grisham signed into law a new Office of Child Advocate in the attorney general's office that confers him with authority to investigate CYFD's operations. She also authorized $650,000 to establish the office in its first year. However, as she stated in her March 21 executive message, the governor is concerned that this new office could be weaponized to intimidate CYFD and its staff rather than to prioritize the safety and well-being of children in the state's care. She reiterates this concern following the AG's unfounded, blanket criticisms of CYFD at a news conference today. All public officials with jurisdiction over CYFD should commit to ensuring that oversight is conducted with the utmost integrity, without prejudgment or political motivation. Michael ColemanCommunications DirectorOffice of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham CYFD sent KRQE this statement: The death of any child is tragic, and we mourn this terrible loss and send our condolences to the family and friends of the youth who died. CYFD is disappointed that Attorney General Torres has decided not to collaborate with the Department on this important investigation. CYFD's own investigation began immediately, and we will share our findings with the Department of Justice. As Secretary Casados has said on numerous occasions, she would much prefer to work with the attorney general in a solution-focused manner, rather than via a press conference, for systemic change to New Mexico's child welfare system Andrew SkobinskyDirector of CommunicationsOffice of the Secretary | Children, Youth & Families Department Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
