A bill to increase oversight of the Children, Youth and Family Services Department passed the House today with bipartisan support. House Bill 11 would establish an Office of the Child Advocate within the Attorney General's office, which would review services provided by CYFD.
It is one of a number of measures proposed this session aimed at improving safety for New Mexican children, who have some of the country's very highest rates of trauma like abuse and neglect. The agency meant to protect them has come under severe criticism.
A lawsuit filed earlier this year alleged CYFD had failed to ensure a foster home in Questa was safe for a child who was found to be abused. A report at the end of last year by the Legislative Finance Committee noted that although CYFD's preventative services expenditures have grown tenfold since 2018, the rates of children being repeatedly maltreated remains about the same and well above the national average.
Bill sponsor Representative Tara Jaramillo (D-Socorro) said she hoped the office, "will help these complex and overburdened systems of CYFD through their fair support and resource guiding."
She said in an earlier hearing that 43 other states have similar oversight.
In remarks supplied to the Legislative Finance Committee, CYFD objected that the proposed Office of the Child Advocate would duplicate work already done by an office that administers a grievance process. But the bill passed the House and now heads to the Senate.
Other bills moving through the legislature include measures to better protect babies exposed to prenatal drugs and alcohol and to create more transparency within CYFD.
An executive order by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham last month would create an office of innovation and an advisory council in the department. She indicated in a news conference at the time that she opposed the creation of an oversight office, saying that a confrontational relationship could be created, raising the possibility that she might veto the bill eventually.