New Mexico’s Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) has been heavily scrutinized for the constant failures in the Department to protect children overseen and in the care of the state.
With no oversight mechanisms in place at CYFD, many children have tragically died or been harmed while in the system.
A Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) release recently reported by the Albuquerque Journal shows more damning information about CYFD’s failures.
The Journal writes, “More than 40% of children in New Mexico who had a substantiated serious injury from physical abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2022 came from families who had a prior involvement with the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department in the preceding 12 months, according to new state data.”
The LFC report notes that CYFD “continues to underperform on targets for repeat maltreatment, maltreatment of foster care children, and serious injuries after protective services involvement.”
“New Mexico’s rates for repeat maltreatment are among the worst in the nation,” it continues.
Kicking the can down the road and attempting to remain blameless, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s CYFD Secretary Barbara Vigil said of the report, “Our underperformance is a condition of systemic challenges that have manifested over many years.”
The LFC added in the report, “Prevention and early intervention is key to reducing repeat child maltreatment.”
One of the assessments from CYFD’s release noted, “A recent CYFD workforce development plan and survey noted that protective services staff ranked workload, self-care, and compensation as the most pressing challenges facing staff. Another highly ranked challenge was related to organizational factors with many respondents feeling that rules, policies, and procedures are not interpreted and applied consistently.”
It is unclear in upcoming legislative sessions if there will be meaningful reform made to CYFD. Previous oversight measures carried by Republicans and passed by wide margins have repeatedly failed to pass — leaving children at continued risk due to heavy staff workload, lack of accountability and performance metrics of the department set far too low.
Progressive liberal politics, led by the Democratic Political Party of NM, insures absolutely zero tolerance for…Any Change.
You should have said “Kicking the kid down the road”. It would have been more accurate. “Systemic”, “Manifestations”, just stupid words for we don’t care if you abuse your child, even to the point of death! Who cares about kids when you can dance with their abusers and groomers!
Most library books are anti-Catholic and anti-Christ, so a book burn is in the works. For Jesus and Mary and souls: http://johnthebaptist.us MLR NM and MLR Ireland.
Protest the Santa Fe Liberal Bishop house and Grisham house.
Bring the homeless there by bus asap
Mr McCabe,
Is your archdiocese allowing priests to sign religious excemptions against COVID “vaccines”? The SF archciodiocese has told parishes not to sign excemptions – this is clearly against Catholic Catechism –
would Las Cruces archdiocese sign religious excemption for Catholic in SF archodiocese?
Another reason to say goodbye to liberal democrap policies. They hate children. They murder the unborn and forgot those that are alive and in need of care. MLG is the queen of failed policy.
Don’t blame just CYFF not caring about kids is systematic in this state. Too many are trying to protect the parents and the family name. I had a police officer in Truth or consequences tell me what I witnessed was discipline a mother hitting her kid in the head for two blocks and bouncing it off my truck and then telling me she could do to “it” whatever she wanted that was discipline in his eyes. Then how about the school counselor who told the little girl who self-reported the abuse and neglect she was lying or how about the boy that was drowned by his dad and it was witnessed earlier him being hogtied in a motel room and nobody did anything about it
Reunification is what cydf wants, give them back to their parents who mostly are addict, miss treated and abused them.
Then there are people who only take in children for the money.
The ones that are adopted out to their caregivers who work for cydf. They get first choice.
Most grandparents want to step in and raise their grandchildren, but cydf won’t let them. Cydf answers to no one, they run their own show.