Latest news with #andFamiliesDepartment
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NMCYFD Secretary acknowledges department's shortcomings, says changes are being made
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The woman taking over the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department is inheriting a troubled department. For years, CYFD has routinely failed to protect New Mexico's children from abuse and neglect. Secretary Teresa Casados is acknowledging CYFD's problems while trying to forge a new path. Story continues below News: Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham authorizes National Guard deployment to Albuquerque Trending: NMSU: 6 international students' visas revoked by federal government News: Suspect in custody after fleeing from police in a U-Haul with people in the back Education: Curanderismo in the classroom: Albuquerque high school teacher introduces students to Mexican folk healing Lawmakers unleashed on her this Legislative session over the deaths of children, some during her tenure, that they say could have been prevented. 'I took on this role to lead this and knew that there would be criticisms based on, you know, the role in general. And I don't take those personally,' said Casados. Casados said she knows her agency is broken. 'But I think we also have an opportunity that we missed, and that's in bringing people together to really solve the problem…'Not what people are talking about that aren't working in that day in and day out, but let's focus on the problems and focus on finding a solution, and then all come together to work towards that. I think that's what's going to change the department and change the outcomes that we're seeing. And until we can do that, I don't think any amount of legislation, you can't legislate your way out of a situation,' said Casados. Casados said it starts with prevention, which is why she bolstered support for families struggling with situations that could lead to abuse or neglect. 'It really gives them the ability to get stabilization for what they need, right, and without removing kids, and being able to keep that unit together and support that mom. You know, there may be times when temporarily we have to remove them so they can get stabilized, but this really gives them an opportunity to get back on their feet.' Deputy Secretary Kathey Phoenix-Doyle leads the Behavioral Health and Family Services Divisions. 'We had a young mom, two children, and she found herself in a situation where she didn't, she was homeless because of a domestic violence incident that had occurred, and she was protecting her children, her young children, and she's like, I just, I need help. I'm young, you know, she didn't know about resources. She didn't have a family who could back her up,' said Phoenix-Doyle. CYFD has added four family resource centers around the state, and even a mobile one. They have served 800 families so far, and the numbers are growing. 'The important part is not handing them just a brochure with a lot of numbers. It's to say, I'm going to help you until we get you connected to that community resource you may be needing,' said Phoenix-Doyle. Casados said, 'You don't have to do life alone. There are some difficult situations that everyone faces one time or another, and there are people to walk through it with you.' Lawmakers did pass House Bill 5, which would create an Office of Child Advocacy within the New Mexico Department of Justice to oversee CYFD. A move which the secretary welcomes. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. If someone suspects a child is being abused, it can be reported by dialing #SAFE or calling 855-333-7233. Reports can also be made by texting 505-591-4444. CYFD is also holding more than 30 events across the state. To access the resources CYFD offers, click this link. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tug-of-war over juvenile justice led to inaction, Republicans and Democrats alike say
Lawmakers said this year's session was going to be the one they used to tackle the rising problem of juvenile crime in New Mexico. But politics waylaid — and ultimately shipwrecked — two of the most notable bills aimed at addressing the problem by way of updating the state's so-called 'outdated' Children's Code: House Bills 134 and 255. Then, on the final night of the session, gunfire erupted during a car show at a Las Cruces park, leaving three teenagers dead, over a dozen injured, and lawmakers on all sides pointing fingers at each other for the Legislature's inaction on the issue of juvenile crime. Republicans argued the Democratic majority did not bring proposals to the table that did enough to bring consequences to the state's most serious juvenile offenders. The latter argued their colleagues on the other side of the aisle were not open to compromise. No one was happy, least of all Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. 'The governor observed a fundamental lack of urgency among lawmakers regarding our juvenile crime problem,' spokesperson Jodi McGinnis Porter said in an email. 'She found it difficult to understand why many legislators failed to recognize the same concerns that thousands of New Mexicans clearly expressed during public safety town halls across their communities.' Lujan Grisham has signaled that she intends to call a special session, in part focused on juvenile justice. On Friday, McGinnis Porter did not definitively say when, or if, that special session would take place, saying the governor 'has been and will continue [to] be inclusive of the legislature in discussing any agenda for the special session.' Some top Democrats, however, have said special sessions can be ineffectual if they don't leave enough time for legislators to properly vet bills. In a written statement, House Democratic spokesperson Camille Ward pointed to various measures passed this year that would ultimately help address juvenile crime issues by first tackling the state's troubled child welfare system and general public safety problems. 'Public safety starts with the safety of New Mexico's children, which is why House Democrats prioritized reforming the state's troubled Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) this session,' she wrote. 'We cannot talk about juvenile crime without ensuring that New Mexico shows up for our most vulnerable and at-risk children.' While she lamented the ultimate failure of HB 255, which she described as a key measure, Ward added the caucus would 'continue advocating for real, meaningful, and evidence-based solutions to public safety, including addressing juvenile crime' in the weeks and months to come. 'There's no consequences' HB 134 faced a steep uphill battle from the get-go. Some have argued the measure attempted to do too much all at once, with the original draft of the bill bundling an array of changes to the Children's Code, including proposals to immediately transfer teenagers to adult jails when they turn 18 and expanding the definition of serious youthful offenders, who are subject to adult penalties. Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, who carried the bill, said some lawmakers told her the bill had not been properly vetted — despite discussions held by interim legislative committees about ways to address juvenile crime, she said. Still, when she tried to get the bill heard in its first stop in the Roundhouse, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, Reeb said the panel's chair, Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, gave her the 'runaround.' 'I was just really frustrated that there was a lot of, 'Where is this coming from?' when we had definitely vetted it in the interim,' Reeb said in an interview. HB 134 started out with bipartisan support — and not just from some Democrats in the House but also from other top officials, including Bernalillo County's District Attorney Sam Bregman and Lujan Grisham, both Democrats. In the Roundhouse, however, Reeb said she saw that collaborative spirit fizzle, saying Democrats who signed onto HB 134 essentially went radio silent with her and did not help push the bill in committee. Many criticized the measure as being too tough on children. Denali Wilson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico — a staunch opponent of the proposal since before the session — said HB 134 was among lawmakers' 'worst ideas,' and that it focused too heavily on a strategy of punishing juvenile offenders that only perpetuates cycles of violence. 'What's so frustrating is seeing that hurt and hearing nothing but solutions that increase trauma,' she said, citing the Las Cruces shooting. Reeb argued the bill would not take away rehabilitative programs for children who could be rehabilitated — just from those who have killed. 'When you take somebody's life, there's got to be consequences,' she said. 'And these kids — they know there's no consequences.' The bill was ultimately tabled in House Consumer and Public Affairs, despite efforts by Reeb to pare the bill down to a handful of changes. Republican efforts to add the language of HB 134 into another, larger crime bill also failed. 'My colleagues chose to do nothing' House Bill 255 faced an equally rocky road. The measure, originally presented as a means of providing more funding for youth programming, was effectively 'hijacked' by House Democrats and turned into a political football by Republicans, said the measure's Senate sponsor Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque. Specifically, lawmakers added in a provision to create monthly, up-to-$2,000 stipends for both former foster kids and formerly incarcerated youth that was slammed by Republicans, who called the stipend proposal a bid to create a 'homicide scholarship.' Though that provision was eventually stripped from the bill when it moved to the Senate, Maestas said Republicans used 'classic political opportunism' to continue criticizing the bill by arguing it was too soft on young people accused of serious crimes. He singled out freshman Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, R-Albuquerque, who expressed concern that six months of probation was not enough for children under 14 found guilty of a homicide. She cited recent details emerging in a fatal hit-and-run in Albuquerque in May in which two teenagers and one preteen are accused of intentionally running down a cyclist on his way to work at Sandia National Laboratories. Under the bill, six months would have been a twofold expansion to the maximum term of supervised release a child under 14 could serve as part of a long-term commitment. Maestas noted that probation would only apply after a maximum 21-month commitment to a facility. 'It was shocking that someone would make [an] intellectual argument that stupid, that my colleague would be that stupid to try to make political hay out of a horrible, horrible tragedy, for a few political points,' Maestas said. 'It's sad. The people of New Mexico deserve better than what Nicole Tobiassen was doing.' Tobiassen did not respond to a Friday request for comment on Maestas' remarks. Wilson, the ACLU attorney, said HB 255 conflated the idea of imposing more penalties for children with the concept of 'accountability.' She cited the measure's inclusion of a provision from HB 134 to add voluntary manslaughter to the list of crimes for which teenagers could be classified as 'youthful offenders' and subject to adult penalties. Maestas, however, argued HB 255 took a more gradual approach. While it did not seek to completely overhaul the Children's Code all at once, he argued it 'was something to hang our hat on in terms of responding to a public outcry.' He added the Legislature's decision to not move forward with HB 255 means harsher bills like HB 134 are more likely to come up during a potential special session. The Senate failed to pass HB 255 on a 13-24 vote, with many Democrats joining Republicans in voting against it. 'We have a duty to govern, and people out there in the community are expecting us to do something on juvenile crime, and it's better to do something than nothing,' Maestas said. 'But my colleagues chose to do nothing.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill creating office in NMDOJ to oversee CYFD headed to governor's desk
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A bill strengthening protections for kids in New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department care is heading to the governor's desk. On Monday, the House of Representatives passed House Bill 5 which would create an Office of Child Advocacy within the New Mexico Department of Justice to oversee CYFD. Bill could make 'magic mushrooms' a legal treatment option in New Mexico Last week, the Senate passed the bill and now it heads to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk for final action. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CYFD reform bills clear House, move on to Senate in New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Three major bills to improve oversight, transparency, and accountability at the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department have passed the House. House Bill 5 would create an independent office to oversee child welfare in the state. One of the functions of that office would be to review CYFD polices and procedures. Lawmakers want to raise New Mexico teacher salaries by $5,000 Meanwhile, House Bill 203 would require CYFD workers to retain and back up all electronic records. It would help in particular cases where a child is harmed. Lastly, House Bill 205 would strengthen plans of care for substance-exposed newborns. All three bills now head to the Senate. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
