05-04-2025
CYFD reforms will help New Mexico make critical progress on child well-being
More than a decade ago, advocates frustrated by New Mexico's persistently low rankings for measures related to child well-being, began pushing for significant investments in early childhood education. Today, thanks to these efforts, our state is a national leader in providing universal, no-cost, high-quality early childhood education and care.
Early childhood education, along with family-focused policies like tax cuts for working people, affordable healthcare, and accessible housing, has the potential to help break the cycles of generational poverty that have long plagued families in New Mexico.
As a state lawmaker, I am proud to have supported this progress by sponsoring the legislation that created the Early Childhood Education Trust Fund, which provides hundreds of millions in dedicated funding for these programs every year. Yet, as a mom and a social worker, I also know we have much more work to do.
For more than 20 years, I have advocated for abused and neglected children in our court system. I have seen firsthand that rates of child abuse and maltreatment in our state remain shockingly high, and our Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) has struggled to protect our most vulnerable kids.
All of us are familiar with the high-profile, heartbreaking stories of children who have lost their lives because they somehow ended up back in the custody of abusive or neglectful adults. Unfortunately, there are many more stories of children who were failed by the system that was supposed to protect them, that may not make headlines.
That includes: kids sleeping on office floors because there are not enough foster homes; infants put at risk because their parents, who are struggling with addiction, do not receive the treatment they need; children who are left in abusive homes; or those who are repeatedly bounced from one caregiver to another.
Our children ultimately pay the price for these systemic failures, and our communities do, too. When kids are harmed, traumatized, or simply not given the support they need to thrive, it contributes directly to challenges like juvenile crime, substance use, and low graduation rates. This, in turn, undermines our progress on breaking generational cycles of poverty, improving public safety, and building a more prosperous and sustainable economic future for all New Mexicans.
With that in mind, my colleagues and I came together this session around meaningful legislative reforms to better protect kids by strengthening oversight, accountability, and transparency at CYFD. House Bill 5, which has already been signed into law, will create an independent Office of the Child Advocate to oversee child well-being in New Mexico and give kids a stronger voice within CYFD.
Senate Bill 42, which awaits the Governor's signature, would better protect infants born to parents struggling with addiction. This legislation would ensure these families receive the services they need and that the state intervenes if parents fail to complete required steps necessary for the safety of their children.
Additionally, we passed legislation to provide tax credits to foster parents and guardians, support grandparents and other relatives raising children, and require that kids in CYFD's care receive their full federal benefits.
Just as I was proud to support transformative investments in early childhood education, I was proud to join lawmakers from both chambers and both sides of the aisle to support these important reforms for the state's most at-risk children. Together, these forward-thinking initiatives will help us truly move the needle on child well-being and finally, turn the tide on generational poverty and trauma.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: CYFD reform will result in child well-being
