After spending increases, lawmakers express frustration over child protection trends in New Mexico

September 11 – ESPAÑOLA – Despite increased funding in recent years, the number of child abuse cases in New Mexico increased last year and staff turnover at the state’s child welfare agency continues to be above the national average.

Some lawmakers expressed frustration with the development during a committee hearing on Wednesday, citing low completion rates for voluntary programs such as home visiting for young parents.

“We spend so much money and get so little in return,” said Republican Rep. Andrea Reeb of Clovis during the legislative committee on courts, corrections and justice meeting at Northern New Mexico College.

New Mexico has long struggled to address child welfare issues, and lawmakers have introduced bills in recent years that would provide independent oversight of the Department of Children, Youth and Families and make other structural changes.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration has resisted such efforts, even though the governor last year called the department “dysfunctional” and ordered the creation of a new advisory board and innovation office within CYFD.

However, a legislative analyst said Wednesday that the CYFD has reduced the amount of public reports it issues on child protection issues in recent years.

“There are probably ways to strengthen the checks and balances,” Rachel Mercer Garcia, an analyst on Parliament's Finance Committee, told lawmakers on Wednesday.

In addition, some families are not aware that a support plan will be put in place for them if a baby is found in hospital to have been in contact with illicit substances.

However, a CYFD spokesman denied the claim of under-reporting and said agency officials were not invited to attend Wednesday's hearing.

The child welfare agency also expects steady progress in reducing child neglect and child removal cases through a new family services division, said CYFD spokesman Andrew Skobinsky.

As state revenues have continued to boom, spending on child protective services in New Mexico has increased by about $100 million over the past decade, to more than $200 million annually.

Yet the turnover rate among CYFD social workers has remained stubbornly high — about 34% last year — and the overall number of child welfare workers in New Mexico is about the same as it was in 2017, according to legislative data.

In addition, CYFD's insurance premiums will increase by $1.5 million in the coming fiscal year after the state paid out more than $21 million in compensation for abused and neglected children since 2021.

However, Skobinsky said CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados ​​​​approved 34 new hires in the past two weeks and described the agency as a workplace with “significant opportunities” to make a difference.

“What do we do?”

Two lawyers involved in a 2020 settlement that resolved claims by youth in foster care in New Mexico said Wednesday that CYFD and other state agencies would not enforce some agreed-to changes.

For this reason, among others, the two sides are scheduled to appear in court again later this year.

“We spent an enormous amount of time brokering a settlement that the state immediately turned its back on,” attorney Sara Crecca said Wednesday.

Senator Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) called the development of child protection in his state “shameful” during the hearing on Wednesday.

“What do we do?” Cervantes once asked rhetorically, becoming visibly emotional. “No one is more vulnerable (than children).”

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. John Block of Alamogordo called the CYFD the state's “Hindenburg,” a reference to a doomed German airship.

“I sometimes feel like we're just banging our heads against the wall in these committees,” Block added.