An estimated 40,000 New Mexico children were raised by grandparents or a relative besides their parents in 2024, according to the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department. A bill in the legislature would create a pilot program to assist these kinship caregivers.
House Bill 252 has already passed the House and is currently at the Senate Judiciary committee. The three-year pilot program would focus on Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Taos, McKinley, and Doña Ana Counties, targeting 50 participants in each area.
According to the bill’s fiscal impact report, 25.9% of grandparents raising grandchildren in New Mexico live in poverty, compared to 18.3% nationally.
Kinship care is growing here, despite declining in the rest of the country, according to Aging and Long-Term Services. Between 2022 and 2024, 9% of children in New Mexico were in kinship care — more than double the national average of 3%. The number of children in kinship care in the state increased from an estimated 30,000 in 2017 to 40,000 in 2024. One of the primary reasons is parents struggling with substance use disorders.
The bill originally had a $4.5 million appropriation, but an amended version changed that to $4 million from the general fund.
The program would be administered through the Aging and Long-Term
Services Department and would provide resources like public assistance, economic support and legal services.
Co-sponsor Rep. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo) told Source New Mexico that she chose the aging department rather than the Children, Youth and Families Department because grandparents are more comfortable with senior centers and that people have a negative perception of CYFD.
Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (D-To'hajilee), who is Diné, is a co-sponsor and she and her husband are kinship caregivers themselves. Abeyta is a lawyer and even she finds the system difficult to navigate.
“Sometimes the system is not designed to be one of support. So I think with this bill, what we're looking at doing is empowering the way that we help families,” she said.
Abeyta said this bill is to support families who want to obtain legal custody or official guardianship.
“Because so many times those legal fees are what make families concerned about not proceeding through the court system,” she said.
The legislative session ends on March 22nd at noon.
Support from the coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
