Latest news with #KevinS.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CYFD reform efforts inch forward in the Roundhouse
Feb. 21—SANTA FE — One by one, New Mexico's youth, education, health and workforce secretaries lined up in a House committee room Friday to speak against an effort to overhaul the state's Children, Youth and Families Department. Despite the opposition, the House Health and Human Services Committee voted 9-1 to enact House Joint Resolution 5, a measure that would allow voters to remove CYFD from the governor's oversight and instead create a five-member independent commission to hire a CYFD executive director by July 2027. It's not the only CYFD reform effort the committee passed Friday. Members also voted 9-1 to pass House Bill 5, which would create an Office of the Child Advocate administratively attached to the New Mexico Department of Justice, formerly the Attorney General's Office. "We need to do something now. We cannot continue to wait and put this off," said HJR5 bill sponsor Rep. Eleanor Chavez, D-Albuquerque. New Mexico has long struggled to address child welfare issues, and lawmakers have increased spending on CYFD in recent years in an attempt to hire more social workers. However, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has opposed efforts to increase outside oversight of the agency, instead ordering the creation of a new advisory council and office of innovation within CYFD. Both pieces of legislation still need to cross over to the Senate side of the Roundhouse before getting a chance at passage, though only House Bill 5 would require the governor's signature. The efforts have failed in past years. "CYFD welcomes accountability, oversight and partnership in improving CYFD to better serve New Mexicans, but an Office of Child Advocate attached to the Department of Justice just doesn't achieve this," CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados told the committee. Similarly, Deputy Secretary of Protective Services and Juvenile Justice Valerie Sandoval, speaking on behalf of Casados, said other legislative proposals — not HJR5 — would help solve the agency's challenges. "Removing CYFD as a Cabinet-level agency would hinder collaboration with key state agencies essential to child welfare, education and health," she said. She brought up a letter child welfare advocates Judith Meltzer and Kevin Ryan sent earlier this week to Casados and Tara Ford, counsel on a settlement in a lawsuit known as Kevin S., which sought reform of New Mexico's child welfare system. "In our view, child welfare services cannot be successfully operated in a vacuum. ... Commission-led governance is very likely, in our view, to exacerbate many of the problems we have documented in New Mexico," Meltzer and Ryan wrote, both of whom were dubbed "co-neutrals" as part of the settlement to help guide reform efforts. Speaking as a bill expert, Alvin Sallee, a foster parent and professor emeritus for New Mexico State University's social work program, said HJR5 would remove politics from CYFD, eliminating a secretary appointee coming at the whim of any gubernatorial administration. Under the resolution, the five commission members would be appointed staggered six-year terms by the governor, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority floor leader of the Senate and the minority floor leader of the House of Representatives. Sallee compared the setup to that of the state's Public Regulation Commission, which recently went through an overhaul to become a three-member appointed commission, all serving staggered six-year Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo, said he was dead set against HJR5 until the only ones who spoke in opposition were state Cabinet or deputy secretaries. Secretaries Mariana Padilla of the Public Education Department, who still is awaiting Senate confirmation; Kari Armijo of the Health Care Authority; Elizabeth Groginsky of the Early Childhood Education and Care Department; and Sarita Nair of the Department of Workforce Solutions also spoke against HJR5. "It says a lot about circling the wagons and trying to protect the status quo," Martinez said. Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque, voted against HJR5. She told the Journal after the committee she doesn't believe the measure would substantially improve the department; it "shifts the blame for CYFD's ineffectiveness from the Governor's Office to a politically appointed body." "I have appreciated Secretary Casados' involvement and participation during this legislative session and hope we can reform our (Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act) and place safeguards to ensure New Mexico's children are protected," she said. "Our state has invested millions of dollars following the Kevin S. lawsuit and yet CYFD continues to fail our children." Rep. Pamelya Herndon, D-Albuquerque, was the sole vote against HB5. She asked a few clarifying questions on the bill during the discussion but didn't explain her "no" vote afterward. She's also a sponsor of HJR5.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Experts say CYFD reform proposal would likely hurt, not help
Feb. 19—Two national experts helping to reform the state Children, Youth and Families Department warned this week that a legislative proposal designed to improve the agency's operations could make progress even more difficult. The proposed House Joint Resolution, sponsored by Speaker of the House Javier Martínez and state Rep. Eleanor Chavez, both Albuquerque Democrats, would remove the troubled child welfare agency from the governor's direct responsibility and place governance of CYFD in the hands of an appointed five-member commission. "While we understand fully the need for effective leadership and accountability to improve the performance of CYFD on behalf of New Mexico's children and families, we feel strongly that this change will not help and may, in fact, make improvement efforts more difficult," wrote Judith Meltzer, of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for the Study of Social Policy, and Kevin Ryan, with Public Catalyst of Iselin, New Jersey, in a letter dated Feb. 18. The independent experts are being paid by the state to gather data and help ensure CYFD's compliance with the agreement that settled a federal class action lawsuit filed in 2018 on behalf of 14 foster children, including the named plaintiff, a boy referred to as Kevin S. "While we generally do not comment on legislative activities, we believe it's important to share our views on this proposed change, based on both our experiences in multiple states involved in child welfare reform," states their letter to CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados and Tara Ford, a lead attorney who filed the Kevin S. lawsuit. They are referred to as co-neutrals in settlement documents. "In states where we have witnessed reform take root, the governors' direct oversight and support played a significant role in prioritizing child welfare reform within government, eliminating barriers and advancing accountability," the letter states. Other state governmental entities, such as a state health agency and departments of early childhood and education, all play a role in the overall child welfare system, the experts wrote. "Commission-led governance is very likely, in our view, to exacerbate many of the problems we have documented in New Mexico," the letter states. New Jersey and the District of Columbia initially faced problems as extensive as New Mexico and have "now exited from litigation" after creating a cabinet-level agency as part of their settlement agreement reforms, the experts added. Asked for a comment from Martinez, a spokeswoman replied with a statement from Chavez, who she said was the lead sponsor. Chavez in that statement said, "This is the first we have heard that these out-of-state co-neutrals have concerns about this proposal. New Mexicans know that the problems at CYFD are longstanding and predate the Kevin S. settlement." She added, "Since the settlement agreement, CYFD has failed to make any progress and New Mexico's children continue to pay the price." The measure, which is set to go to its first committee hearing Friday morning, would establish an independent commission to appoint an executive director to assume CYFD management and operations. But voters would first have to approve the change in the next general election in November 2026 or in a special election. "The Joint Resolution is one of several solutions that legislators and experts have been working on for months to better protect our children," Chavez said in a statement. "We trust the voters of New Mexico to evaluate the merits of this proposal and believe they deserve a say in improving the outcomes for the state's children." In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has taken a hands-on role in recent years, calling for restructuring of CYFD and more recently, placing her chief executive officer, Casados, as acting CYFD secretary in 2022. Casados later was named cabinet secretary, and has emphasized prevention of child abuse and neglect, and providing family services as a way to address chronically high child maltreatment rates, protective services staff turnover, and too few nonrelative foster families. But attorneys for the Kevin S. plaintiffs have criticized the agency for failing to adhere to settlement agreement mandates, such as lowering caseloads for protective services caseworkers. An independent arbitrator in early January agreed CYFD had violated certain terms of the agreement. The proposed joint resolution is among at least five bills or resolutions introduced in this 60-day session that are aimed at creating more accountability over the agency, which has had three cabinet secretaries since 2019. Martinez is also a sponsor oF House Bill 5 , which would establish an Office of Child Advocate. That office would be attached to the state Department of Justice and field any complaints, look at systemic issues, and issue reports. Senate Bill 307, which has at least 37 sponsors, would also establish an independent CYFD ombudsman's office but attached to the state's judiciary. That bill, had not been set for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee as of Wednesday afternoon. So far the two "co-neutrals" haven't weighed in on the idea of New Mexico creating an ombudsman's office.
